t!g!iiiilii!t!;i!!!iB;iiiHii)in:;i;i!;a;iHiiii!iiiiliii;ib;.:!'ii 



SHAKESPEARE'S -^^^ 

TOWN 

AND TIMES 







.'■'%:- 


-)/Jf 




'-/');-■''■■' ! 


^ m "• 


- ^y ' 


' '■ ,. I'l' ' '• 










THE DAVENANT BUST. 




* 'Gainst death and all oblivious enmity 
Shall you pace forth, your praise shall still find room 
Even in the eyes of all posterity 
That wear this world out to the ending doom." 

Shakespeare's Sonnets. 




C0^)carc'iei 



Z(Mn an^txmcB. 



By 
H. SNOWDEN WARD and 
CATHARINE WEED WARD, 

Fellows of the Royal Photographic Society, and 
Editors of The Photogram. 



NEW YORK: TRUSLOVE & 
COMBA, 65 FIFTH AVENUE. 
LONDON : DAWBARN & 
WARD, LIMITED. : : : : 



A 



27045 

CONTENTS. 



Introduction and Acknowledgment ------ 7 

Chapter I. — The Town and District - - - - - 9 

II. — Some Historical Notes ------ 27 

III. — Shakespeare's Ancestors - 47 

IV. — Shakespeare's Childhood ------ 65 

V. — Shakespeare's Boyhood - 79 

VI. — Shakespeare's Youth and Courtship - - - 93 

VII. — Seeking a Fortune ------- 107 

VIII. — Manhood and the Close of Life . . - - 121 

IX. — A Great Man's Memory ------ 137 

Appendix A. — Information for Visitors ------ 166 

Map of the District --------- 169 

Appendix B. — Shakespeare's Will ------- 170 

C. — New Light on Shakespeare's Lineage - - - 172 

Index ------------- 174 

Plan of Stratford-on-Avon ------ Eiui of Book. 



^ 1899 



INTRODUCTION . . 
AND 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 



^^UR task has been a simple one ; — to write in plain words 
VjO the tale of Shakespeare's life, to picture what remain to 
I us of the scenes that Shakespeare saw. There are 
"lives'' more learned than anything we can attempt, 
and illustrations of Shakespeare's Town more picturesque than 
anything we can make. But the pictitres are too often fancies, the 
"■lives" too seldom distinguish beticcen fact and theory. We have 
tried to be simply true ; and, while giving our own deductions from 
some of the facts, to keep the facts themselves distinct. 

It is to be regretted that ih> photographic record could have 
been made a century or more ago, for the vandal and the "improver" 
have made sad havoc of the Shakespeare haunts. But as the changes 
are still in progress, our photograms may be useful in years to come, 
in reconciling the contradictions of more beautiful but less accurate 
representations. 

Something of Shakespeare's gentle, kindly spirit seems still to 
linger in Stratford-on-the-Avon, and it is a pleasure to acknowledge 
the generous assistance we have received from all sides. Our especial 
thanks are due to the Earl of Warwick, Sir Arthur Hodgson, 



Mr. H. R. Fairfax-Lucy, Mrs. Charles E. Floiccr, Mr. J. W. 
Ryland, Mrs. R. S. dc Coiircy Laffan, Mr. Richard Savage, 
Mr. W . G. Colbouriie, the Misses Hancock, Mr. Douglas 
McNeillc, Mr. W. Salt Brassiugton, and Mr. A. H. Wall, 
the late Librarian of the Shakespeare Memorial, and noic Editor 
of The Shakespearean. 



Hawthornden, 

WooDsiDE Park, N., 
yiily, 1896. 




■ the New Place ^u 




THE HARVARD HOUSE, 



Quinej', vintner. Behind the vintner's cellar is a dark and vaulted chamber, 
a veritable " black hole," that was probably the cell for incorrigible offenders, 
at the time when this house was the Town's Cage, or prison. The upper part of 
the walls and the vaulted roof are probably of more recent date ; but the 
foundation walls, and the raised bench running along two sides and round one 
end of the cell, are undoubtedly very ancient. If this raised bench were the 
prisoners' couch, and this their dungeon cell, we may be sure that anything 
more than a very brief imprisonment would be equivalent to a sentence of 
death. 

Opposite this house, close to the other side of the High Street, stood the 
old Market Cross, and its site is marked by a stone in the roadway, the mean- 
ing of which is probably unknown to most of the younger inhabitants. Under 
the Cross was a well, which remained in good order below the street level until 
about 1 880, when it was filled up, in order to facilitate the carrying across it 
of drain-pipes, etc. 

Further along High Street is the Harvard House, built in 1596, and the 
home of Katharine Rogers, afterwards Harvard. Her son, John, emigrated 
to America in 1634, ^^^ founded Harvard University. Opposite, is the Corn 
Exchange, and a few yards further is Sheep Street, turning to the left. It 
is worth while wandering down this street, and turning into the side courts 
and alleys. Some of them are masked at the ends by great barn doors, but 
no one will object to the curious visitor passing through. Within, these courts 
are as picturesque as anything to be seen in Italy, and the little maidens and 
bright-faced boys who wonderingly gaze at the visitors are tj'pical Shakespeare- 
country children. At the top of the street, again, is the Town Hall, no longer 
so interesting as when the lower part was open to the pathway, and contained 
the stocks and other town property. These stocks, alas! have disappeared; 
probably made into firewood. Over the door is a statue of Shakespeare, 
presented by Garrick at the time of the Shakespeare Jubilee, and in the Council 
Chamber, which visitors may see, are several interesting paintings, with some 
of the old Town Charters. 

Chapel Street is a continuation of High Street. On the left is the Shakes- 
peare hotel and house of the Five Gables, the most picturesque old building in 
Stratford. Here was the head-quarters of the Garrick Jubilee, many relics of 
which are still preserved ; and here, too, are held the principal race-dinners 
and market-dinners of the town. Further, on the same side, is Thomas 
Hathaway's house ; next to it, Julius Shaw's house, and next again, the house 
of Thomas Nash, who married the poet's grand-daughter, Elizabeth Hall. 
Our interest in Julius Shaw arises from the fact that he was one of the 
witnesses of Shakespeare's will. Thomas Nash's house, next to the garden 
and site of New Place, where Shakespeare lived and died after his retirement 
from London, and also during the intervals and holidays of his London life, 

14 




OLD COURT, OFF SHEEP STREET. 



is now used as a museum, under the Birthplace Trust. Though a charge is 
made for admission to the museum, the gardens are open free. Opposite the 
site is the Falcon tavern, in which, according to a none-too-old tradition, 
Shakespeare drank, and played the game of shovel-board. Unfortunately' for 
this story, the house was not a tavern in Shakespeare's time, but no doubt he 
was friendly with the occupier, and often spent an evening" under its roof. It 
is just possible, too, that the shovel-"board still preserved in the New Place 
museum may have been in the possession of Shakespeare's neighbour across 
the way. Let us have faith in the relics when connected with a tradition so 
pleasant and harmless. 




HALL S CROFT 



The Guild Chapel and Grammar School are worth a careful inspection, and 
those who can stay over Sunday should attend one of the chapel services. 
The row of alms-houses, the ancient dwellings of the poorer brethren of the 
Guild, are full of interest, and if you can obtain an invitation to step inside 
one of them and chat with its occupant, you gain a glimpse into a very 
interesting phase of English life, — the declining days of an old pensioner who 
has drifted into this quiet back-water to rest until the longer rest shall come. 

At the end of Church Street we find Trmity College School on the right, 
and the Old Town turns off to the left. Here is Hall's Croft, the home of 



i6 



X 




THE MIDDLE ROW (NO LONGER EXISTING) 
From a Negative by Mr. H. P. KohiiKon. 



to the intrusion of courteous strangers. A little further up the street, on the 
left, is the back view of the Birth-house, across its lawn and garden ; and we 
would advise all who can sufficiently curb their impatience, to make this their 
first view of the house. It is much more satisfying than the front view, and 
it is well that the ineffaceable first impression of the Birth-house should be as 
pleasant as possible. 

Returning to the bridge foot, we find in Bridge Street a fitting ending to 
the tour of the town itself. There are several houses of entertainment, where 
the weary traveller may be rested and refreshed, — the Golden Lion, and 
the Old Red Lion, typical old English hostelries; and the Red Horse, 
with its memories of' Washington Irving. Wherever one may choose to rest 
for the night, Irving's room must not be overlooked, and we must trespass on 
the hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. Colbourne sufficiently to secure, at least, a 
glimpse of the room, and a chance of recording our signatures in the visitors' 
book. The chair that Irving occupied, the poker which he described as his 
sceptre, even the clock that he mentioned as ticking in the old sexton's cottage, 
are preserved with religious care, and the walls of the room are hung with 
mementoes of many a Shakespeare pilgrim since Irving's time. William 
Winter, the gentle critic and author, has brought rnany a contribution, but 
none more notable than the lines which he inscribed in the front of the present 

visitors' book: — 

"While evening waits and barkens 
While yet the song-bird calls. 
Before the last light darkens, 

Before the last leaf falls, 
Once more with reverent feeling 
His haunted shrine I seek — 
• By silent awe revealing 

The thought I cannot speak." 
Truly much depends upon the spirit in which we visit Shakespeare's home. 

It is unnecessary to say much about the surroundings of Stratford. There 
are varied pilgrimages for a day, a week, or a month, and the arrangement thereof 
may well be left to the pilgrim, acting under the advice of mine host of the 
hotel. Of course, the first visit must be to Ann Hathaway's cottage, across 
the fields melodious with the feathered crowd that sing the same song as their 
kindred sang when Shakespeare went a-courting. And as we wander where 
he wandered, we may recall the love-song in which his lady's name is pleasantly 
enshrined. The lines were written by Charles Dibdin, though some have 
called them an ancient piece of work, and suggested that they may have been 
by Shakespeare. 

., "Would ye be taught, ye feathered throng, 

With love's sweet notes to grace your song, 
To pierce the heart with thrilling la)', 
Listen to mine Ann Hathaway. 

"24 " ■ 



She hath a way to sing so clear, 

Phcebus might wondering stop to hear. 

To melt the sad, make blithe the gay, 

And Nature charm, Ann hath a way. 
She hath a way, 
Ann Hathaway; 

To breathe delight, Ann hath a way." 
Then there is the walk along the river to Luddington, the walk so loved b}' 
Judith Shakespeare, as William Black relates in his pleasant chronicle-novel 
of Stratford life in Shakespeare's day. There is VVilmcote, the home of 
Shakespeare's mother; Snitterfield, where his father first saw the light; Aston 
Cantlow, where thej' were probabl)' married; and Charlecote, with its deer- 
stealing legend, and the tombs of the three Sir Thomas Lucys in the church; 
Billesley and Temple Grafton, rivals with Luddington for the honor of having 
been the scene of Shakespeare's marriage; Clopton House, if the permission 
of Sir Arthur Hodgson can be obtained; and, further afield, the family 
mansion, — Shakespeare Hall, Rowington; the glorious old Castle of "Warwick; 
and the ruin of Kenilworth. 

Even in Stratford itself there are one or two items of interest that have not 
come into our tour of the town. In Back Lane, behind the vicarage grounds, 
is a spot often visited by the curious, a little grave-yard set apart by the vicar 
and his wife for the burial of their pets. The little plot gives ample evidence 
that even the dumb animals are not forgotten, for in addition to the tomb- 
stones, with their polyglot inscriptions to the memories of Adam, Noah, 
Moses, Bijou, and Oko Jumbo, the graves are neatly kept and trimmed with 
flowers. In the Birmingham Road, only a couple of hundred yards from the 
birth-house, is an elm tree within a railing, marking the site of the old gnarled 
boundary elm, amongst the roots of which young Willie Shakespeare played. 
A walk to the top of the Welcombe Hills, with their traces of our old savage 
flint-age ancestors, is not too great an exertion even for the ladies, and it is 
calculated to give an excellent appetite for breakfast. Or the same stroll in the 
evening, when, perchance, the mists lie along the river side, and the grass is 
wet in the valley, will give a chance of hearing the nightingale singing when 
other birds have gone to rest. 

Then, if a day can be given to it, a drive of twelve or fourteen miles 
along the Banbury Road — along the way that Shakespeare must have ridden — 
will make an ever-memorable trip. Leaving Stratford by the Clopton Bridge, 
the road gradualh' climbs from the valley until close under the foot of Edge 
Hill, and then by a steep grassy ascent through a hanging wood to the top of 
the hill itself, just above the field of the first battle of the Parliamentary war. 
Emerging from the wood, a new and beautiful vale comes in sight, a scene as 
fair as the Avon valley itself; but that which charms us most is the view 
looking westward from Edge Hill, across the broad lowlands to where Stratford 



nestles bj' the river. Can we not imagine tlie jo}ous heart-leap of the poet, 
returning from his London triumphs, when he thus caught the first sight of 
the home-place he held so dear. 

From all these wanderings we can contentedly return to Stratford, and feel 
as Washington Irving felt when he wrote in his Note Book the words so well 
fitted to close a tourist's day; — 

" To a homeless man, who has no spot on this wide world which he can truly call his 
own, there is a feeling of something like independence and territorial consequence, when, 
after a weary day's travel, he kicks off his boots, thrusts his feet into slippers, and 
stretches himself before an inn fire. Let the world without go as it may ; let kingdoms 
rise or fall, so long as he has the wherewithal to pay his bill, he is, for the time being, the 
very monarch of all he surveys. The arm-chair is his throne, the poker is his sceptre, and 
the little parlor, some twelve feet square, his undisputed empire. It is a morsel of certainty, 
snatched from the midst of the uncertainties of life; it is a sunny moment gleaming 
out kindly on a cloudy day ; and he who has advanced some way on the pilgrimage of 
existence knows the importance of husbanding even morsels and moments of enjoyment." 




THE MEMORIAL, FROM CEOPTON BRinOE. 



26 









"# 








.§^A 




■^"^ ■- '^ 




<P 


^i^jij 




m 




W^ilt 


^ 


' _j^^pB 


K /gj^^t^i^g 


i 


i^ff^^ 




'■ . J 



ELFORD villa; 




Chapter II. 

SOME HISTORICAL NOTES. 

'• O England ! model to th\- inward greatness. 
Like little body mth a mighri- heart. 
What might'st thou do, that honour would thee do. 
Were all thy children kind and natural ? '" 

King Henry V. Act II., Opening Chorus. 

R-ATFORD-ox-AvoN, and the countn- immediately 
surrounding it, would be far from uninteresting even 
had no great poet lived there in the past. More 
than one of Stratford's sons bore j-eoman part in 
the building up of England, and in making her the 
mother of nations. More than one of Stratford's 
old houses has a histor\- rich in incident and human 
interest. The Church, the Guild Chapel, and the 
Grammar School, take us back in memor\- to times 
and manners of which we must know something if we are to fullv 
understand the complex civilisation of to-day. Their records tell us 
better than any great city's record can tell, of the life and ways and 
thoughts of that sturdy yeoman class which moulded the English 
life as neither kings nor parliaments could mould it, and made 
Great Britain and her sons and daughters over-sea, the nations 
that thev are. 




27 



The old halls and mansions within a few miles of Stratford have many a 
bit of interesting history' and legend, more than one blood-stained floor, and 
haunted room, and secret passage, and priest's hiding chamber, to tell of those 
turbulent and intolerant days of which we often speak as the " good old times." 
The Stratford men may have heard the guns at Edge Hill, in 1642, and no 
doubt some of them fought on each side in that battle of father against son, 
and brother against brother. Certainly, soon after that battle, the town was 
occupied by the Royalists, who were driven out by Lord Brooke. He, in turn, 
gave way to superior force, and the Queen, Henrietta Maria. tnol< up her 




THE BOUDOIR, BILLESLEY HALL 

I ]\''itk entrance to priesfs hiding place.) 

quarters for three weeks at New Place, Shakespeare's house. But these 
events were in the time of Shakespeare's children, and we are more interested 
in the local and national conditions that moulded the poet's own life and work. 
It is difficult, indeed, at the present day, to realise what Stratford and 
Warwickshire were when Shakespeare knew them. We hear visitors, as they 
saunter along the Warwick Road, or skim on their light cycles over the 
highway from Banbury, talking of how Shakespeare may have wandered in 
the same way under the whispering trees, or cantered where the cycles glide 
when on his joysome way to London. But macadamised surfaces and steam 
road-rollers were unknown in the days of Good Queen Bess ; many of the 
broad roads of to-day were then non-existent, or represented only by ill-defined 

28 



winding ways through dense thickets ; boggy underfoot, overhung by 
treacherous boughs, and made painful by the petty annoyances of hidden 
water-holes, and cruel briar-bushes. Even what are now main roads in such 
a district, were in those days deep-rutted grass-grown ways, almost impassable 
for wheeled vehicles in the winter time, and none too convenient in the best of 
weather. The forest of Arden, too, was then a forest in very truth; with 
farmsteads and villages set in clearings, such as we think of in connection 




THE TOWN CAGE. 

with American backwoods. The forest was not greatly changed from the old 
Saxon times, or from its state when, in the days of King Stephen, a good 
Crusader, Sir Hugh de Hatton, returning home after escape from slavery 
among the Saracens, was lost in the woodland surrounding his own lands at 
Hatton, and would have perished had he not been accidently found by one of 
his shepherds. Hatton is but a short two miles from Rowington, where lived 
a strong section of the Shakespeare family, and where it is traditionally stated 
that "As you like it" was written. In that truly Warwickshire play, we 
remember Touchstone's remark: — 

" Ay, now I am in Arden, the more fool I ; when I was at home I was in a better 
place, but travellers must be content." 



29 



and the little adventure of Sir Hugh de Hatton throws a flood of light upon 
such a quotation. Not only was the country in its wild state as regards trees 
and tangle, but wild beasts and wilder men, — broken soldiers, dispossessed 
land-holders, ne'er-do-weels, and outlaws for conscience sake, made it necessary 
for men to bear arms when moving a few miles from the villages, and to travel 
in strong companies if known or believed to carry money or articles of value. 
Loxley, only four miles from Stratford-on-Avon, was almost certainly the 
birthplace of Rohm Hood, and more than one good Warwickshire name was 
found amongst his company. 'Tis true that his time was some four hundred 
years before the poet's, but the rough ways persisted o£f-and-on, and outlawry 
and mendicancy were revived in their worst forms under the evil rule of 
Henry VHI. In those days of little learning and few amusements, the local 
legends and traditions persisted for centuries, so that Shakespeare would know 
of the wild wood-men from the fireside stories of his earliest days, and later, 
from the tales of many travellers, or from his own roaming experiences. The 
stories of local knights, and heroes, and pilgrims mingled with the tales of 
the freebooters who stole from the strong to give to the weak, and of whom 
the country people were proud. The very families from which sprang the 
picturesque characters that surrounded Bold Robin Hood, and many a less 
known, though more recent outlaw, remained amongst the Warwickshire 
peasantry and yeomanry. Did not the youngest of Will Shakespeare's aunts 
marry John Scarlett, who is said to have been of the same family as the famous 
Will Scarlett ? 

In the days of the poet's father, the outlaws increased to the numbers of an 
army ; and only the famine, pestilence, and violence, that rapidly thinned their 
ranks, gave any effective check to what was a great national danger. Frequent 
wars on the Scottish border and in the North of England, and the constant 
plots and rebellions resulting from the unsettled government of the land, filled 
the country with homeless and desperate men. The great increase of sheep- 
farming, for wool-growing purposes, caused much good grain land to be laid 
down to pasture, and threw out of employment immense numbers of farm 
laborers, whose only resource was beggary and robbery. 

This sheep-farming also led to the dispossessing and ruthless eviction 
all over the country of small farmers and " squatters," whose only claim to 
their little holdings lay in the fact that they or their fathers had toilsomely 
created them in the wilderness. Many of the most industrious of the poor 
folk, men, women and children, were thus turned into the world homeless 
and penniless, and the best help that the statesmen and the Crown could give 
to these poor wretches, vagabonds through no fault of their own, was to 
decree at times slavery, and at other times death, to those who had " no 
visible means of subsistence." 

30 



Just at the time when these troubles had reached their height, WilHam 
Shakespeare was born ; and during his early years Elizabeth, with a con- 
sistent policy hidden under many devious windings, was endeavoring to 
establish a firm and peaceful government. 

Turning from the civil conditions, let us for a moment consider the 
religious history of the times. The bitter struggle between " the old faith " 
and Protestantism seems to give the key to many of the most puzzling 
circumstances surrounding the life of the poet. The terrible scenes attendant 
upon the suppression of the monastries and other confiscatory acts of Henry 
VIII. were fresh in the memories of the middle-aged men amongst whom 
Shakespeare was educated. And they were terrible scenes, which appealed 
to the sympathies even of religious opponents, though we, as Protestants, 
reading Protestant history-books, may scarce realise the fact. The poet's 
father was about ten years old when the bill for the suppression of the 
greater monasteries was passed by a king who was still nominally a staunch 
Catholic, and who, in the same year, passed the Bloody Bill, which aimed at 
the severe punishment of Protestants and the abolition of diversity ot 
opinion. John Shakespeare and his slightly older contemporaries, whose 
talk and tales supplied the bulk of the poet's general information, passed 
through the troublous times when Protestants and Catholics alike were 
plotting and scheming, stopping at no sort of wickedness to win the favor of 
the king and the triumph of their own religion. Living in a district that 
strongly favored the old cause, they saw the new one gradually winning its 
way by intrigue and cunning, until in 1545 the Primer of Henry VIII. was 
ordered to take the place of the breviary, in public worship. They saw the 
Protestant power increasing during the short but beneficent reign of Edward 
VI., and the return of Catholic power under Mary, whose six years of stormy 
reign and bitter persecution of the Protestants increased the religious hate of 
each party for the other. Six years before the birth of the poet, Elizabeth 
had come to the throne. As he was growing to youth and manhood, the 
friends of Roman Catholicism were gradually realising that they had 
little to hope from that vigorous queen. Comparative peace descended upon 
England, but the bitterest religious hatred was kept glowing by reports of the 
fighting and intrigues that centred round Mary, Queen of Scots, who 
represented Romanism in Britain, by the persecution of Protestants in 
France, and by the veiled, but nevertheless real persecution of Catholics in 
England. Position and influence were gradually taken away from the 
Catholics as occasion served, and under circumstances which were often 
unjust and tyrannical. The Protestants, though triumphant in England, 
feared as much as they hated the Catholics, who were still all powerful in 
almost all parts of Europe. 

32 




RELOVEKY OF THE HOLY CROSS 




Jirt\hs|irv>wraT!)ittjfm akrlTBlvtljU'asi tn" i«f f^nrtiiebolft'Of.tolinnia.btf toUmlvi'nto 



)»UWjnflitrilii4l ~l\\ ilmttJiMiVHmilrHitiilirti 






TESTING AND ADORING THE HOLY CROSS. 
I Ancient Frescoes in the Gnilil Chapd.) 



William Shakespeare was born early in 1564, and was, therefore, four 
years old when Mary, Queen of Scots, escaping from her prison in Lochleven 
Castle, gathering a small army, but defeated near Glasgow, made her way 
into England, threw herself on the tender mercy of Elizabeth, and was 
forthwith imprisoned in Bolton Castle, Yorkshire. It was in the previous 
year that the Protestants in France were defeated at St. Denis, and that the 
Duke of Alva was appointed Governor of the Netherlands, in which capacity 
he massacred no less than 18,000 Huguenots. The poet was five years old 
when the Catholic lords of Northumberland and Westmoreland raised the 
standard of revolt and marched triumphantly through Durham into Yorkshire, 
to be crushed by the Royal forces. When the poet was six years old, 
Leonard Dacre raised a northern rebellion in favor of Mary, and in the same 
year the Scots swooped into England, in return for which a portion of 
southern Scotland was fiendishly ravaged. At eight years old the poet 
would hear and wonder as the people talked in awe-stricken tones of the 
massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, when Protestants in France, to a number 
variously stated between 20,000 and 60,000 were slaughtered, and the Pope 
struck medals, and ordered a Te Dettin to be sung in honor of the great event. 
From that time, until he married, the poet would constantly hear of the 
torture and execution of Romanists in England, and of the almost equal 
intolerance shewn to the Puritans. And although most of these troubles 
were far from the secluded vale of Avon, they were seriously discussed 
around the firesides of Stratford, and partisan feeling ran deep. Warwick- 
shire was strongly Catholic in its general sympathies, and even to the 
present day many of the old families, both rich and poor, are staunch 
Catholics. Billesley Hall, at which there is reason to believe that 
Shakespeare was a visitor, has still its priest's hiding chamber, and its 
underground passage (now bricked up at the end of a few yards) alleged to 
run as far as Causton. Clopton House, too, the Manor house of the district 
including Stratford and Wilmcote, has its priest's chamber in which the 
Gunpowder Plot conspirators met. 

It is well to bear in mind the social and religious conditions of the time, 
as here very briefly sketched. They especially help us to understand the 
importance of the town government, with its subscriptions for the inain- 
tenance of billmen and bowmen, its struggle with "the dearth," and "the 
pestilence," and its ineffectual efforts to induce the townsfolk to keep their 
gutters clean. They also emphasise the value of the various charities and 
institutions that were connected with the town's government by the Guild. 

Of the history of Stratford-on-Avon, as a separate place, we have no trace 
earlier than a somewhat doubtful charter of Ethelred, King of Mercia, 
whereby in 6gi he conveyed to the then Bishop of Worcester, :^e monastery 
of Stratford. In 781, Offa, King of Mercia, confirmed the right of the then 

34 




SHAKESPEARE HALL, ROWINGTON. 



ii.shop of Worcester to Stratford, and little more is known of the place until 
we come to the Domesday Survey (1085) in which it is dealt with very fully 
and described as having been a manor of the Bishop of Worcester for several 
centuries. 

Before the end of the 12th century, Stratford had several craftsmen and 
small manufacturers, and from Richard I. the Bishop of Worcester obtained 
a charter for a weekly market to be held on Thursday." In 1216 an annual 




PRIEST S ROOM, CLOPTON HOUSE. 

(Meeting place of llie Giiitponider Plotters 



fair, held on Trinity Sunday and the two following days, was granted. In 
1224 a three-days annual fair commencing on St. Augustine's Day (May 
26th) was granted, and later in the century grants were obtained for a four- 
days fair on and following the eve of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and a 
three-days fair commencing on the eve of Ascension Day. The first fair, no 
doubt, arose from the Church anniversary, while the third arose from the 
dedication day of the Guild Chapel, which belonged to the Guild of the 
Holy Cross. 

This Guild of the Holy Cross, whose records as far back as 1353 are now 
preserved in the Shakespeare's Birth House Museum, was the most im- 
portant factor in the life of Stratford and the country round, during the 



* This market day was observed i 



changed to Friday. 



37 



middle ages. Working on lines somewhat similar to those of the modern 
Friendly Societies, with their sick and burial funds, schools, and other 
charities, and having in addition a distinctly religious side, the Guilds were 
ver)' popular and became very powerful. Of the actual date or manner of 
origin of the Stratford Guild we have no record, but at the end of the 14th 
century it was regarded as very ancient, and its officers had no knowledge of 
its real age. It was an institution admitting members of both sexes, and 
raising funds by means of entrance fees, by an annual subscription (in 1389 it 
was sixpence a year) by fines for non-observance of rules ; by gifts and 
bequests; and, later, by revenues from land and investments of accumulated 
funds. The fines included (in 1389) : — 

Non-attendance to pay subscription . . . . . . . . id. 

Neglect to follow funeral of a deceased member . . . . id. 

Failure to provide a tankard of ale at the Easter Feast . . Jd. 

Quarrelling or causing a quarrel at the feast . . . . . . id. 

Failure to watch by dead member, if summoned . . . . id. 

On introducing guest or stranger without leave, or on taking 

the seat of another member . . . . . . . . Jd. 

The Guild was governed by two Aldermen and six Councillors, who agreed 
to forfeit for non-attendance at a council meeting fourpence. 

Among the benefactions and advantages of the Guild we find : — The 
burning of a candle in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin, 
and the Holy Cross, " so that God and the Blessed Virgin and the Venerated 
Cross may keep and guard all brethren and sisters of the Guild from 
every ill." 

The great candle above mentioned and eight smaller ones to be carried 
from the church to the house of any member who died, and to be kept 
burning by the body until it was buried, and then set before the Cross on 
the altar. In case of the death of a poor man or a stranger in the town, the 
Guild provided four candles, as well as a sheet and a hearse-cloth to lie 
over the coffin until the bod)' was buried. 

A feast was held in Easter-week for the cherishing of brotherl)' love. Each 
member to bring a great tankard filled with ale ; which ale was given to the 
poor, after prayers to God and the Virgin and the Venerated Cross ; and 
before the feast. One-third of the brethren were summoned to watch the 
body and pray for the soul of a deceased brother through the night after his 
death. Any brother who was robbed or otherwise thrown into poverty was 
provided with "food and clothing and what else he needs, so long as he 
bears himself well and rightly towards the brethren and sisters of the 
Guild." 

Associations having such beneficent objects and appealing strongly to the 
religious as well as to the social and commercial instincts of the people, were 

38 



of the greatest possible value in a societ)' which possessed, apart from them, 
no adequate substitute for our trades unions, friendly societies, or even 
savings banks and fire and life insurance offices. The special guilds for 
separate trades came later, so that there is little wonder that the general 
guilds were well supported and eventualh- so powerful as to be, practically', 
the local governing bodies. 

The accounts of the various masters of the Stratford Guild are so 
extremely interesting that we 
feel sure our readers will 
pardon a digression for the 
purpose of pointing out some 
of the facts to be learnt there- 
from. The entrance fees 
varied from time to time, and 
even in the same year the fee 
varied somewhat, according to 
the rank of the brother or 
sister joining. The largest 
fees were usually paid by the 
chaplains, which can be well 
understood if they were to 
pose, after admission, as mem- 
bers receiving a stipend. The 
souls of deceased persons were 
eligible for membership, and 
as they were not likely to make 
any call upon the temporal 
resources of the Guild, their 
entrance fee was half the 
amount charged to brethren 
still in the flesh, and no sub- 
scriptions were demanded. All 
through the records we find [ -^ 

very numerous entries of fees - — - — 

paid for the souls of deceased ^he guild chapel, from scholars' lane. 

persons. Widows and un- 
married women paid a reduced entrance fee, and in 1436 we find a very curious 
entry of a compact with a single man — " William Purdon, syngulmon, and if 
he should hereafter marry, then his wife to be received into the fraternity of 
the Guild without paying any. fine (or entrance fee)." In many cases we find 
that payment of the " fine " and of subscriptions was made in goods or labor 
instead of money. 




39 



We find particulars of the building of the Grammar School, and also of 
a portion of the Guild Chapel. We learn that the Guild paid tribute of 
money, and of certain services to the Parish Church, and that in addition to 
maintaining the Grammar School it subsidised a preparatory school to the 
extent of providing the schoolmaster with a house, rent free. We find that 
the Guild very handsomely entertained the travelling preachers and important 
visitors to the town, and that it formed a court of arbitration which did not 

hesitate to pay for a feast at 
the making of two enemies 
into friends. It gave en- 
couragement to promptness 
and punctuality by keeping 
two public clocks, and gener- 
allj' looked after the interests 
of its members from the 
cradle to the grave, and even 
beyond: for did not the Guild 
pay fourpence a year to the 
crier, or " le Belman," for 
"praying round about the 
town for the souls of brothers 
and sisters four times a year." 
Of the home life and 
religious ceremonies of the 
time we can form a good idea 
from the records, but perhaps 
none of the items are more 
interesting than those per- 
taining to the feasts of the 
brethren. The numbers 
attending the feasts during 
the first thirty years or so of 
THE GUILD CHAPEL. ENTRANCE. thc fifteenth ccntuTy varied 

from a hundred and eight 
{.\.r>. 1410) to a hundred and seventy-two (.\.d. 1416), these numbers being 
exclusive of the chaplains, the strangers, the cooks and turnspits, and those 
brethren who waited on the rest. The providing of a feast for such numbers 
was evidently beyond the resources of the local tradesmen and the local 
markets, for we constantly find entries of payments for men and horses to buy 
the provisions in surrounding towns and villages, and to convey them to 
Stratford. The sheep, goats, fowls, &c., were bought alive, and kept some 
time before the feast; the unground grain was bought and ground for bread 




40 



and pastr}' ; and whatever the viands may have lacked in elegance and 
variety, there was certainly no lack of quantity. The partial account of the 
feast made in 1410, when a hundred and eight brethren attended, is fairly 
typical of the provision made, and of the market prices then ruling. We find 

Corn. — Twenty bushels, lo/- ; exclusive of corn to feed the pullets. 

Ale. — From Agnes Iremonger, eight dozen (? gallons) good ale, 12/-; small ale, 3/- 
From Agnes Mayel, nine gallons good ale, 1/6 ; small ale, gd. 

Meat. — Four calves, n/- ; two " legges " of veal, 8d. ; two " buttus " of pork, 8J-d. ; 
two sheep, 5/- ; one calf, 3/4 ; nine small pigs, 3/9 ; 10 " kyddus lambe " bought at 
" Shresesbury," 5/10 ; and carriage of same to Stratford, 2od. 

Pullets. — 113 pullets, g/ii J; 
three capons, 8d. 

Spices. — ijlbs. pepper, 5/6 ; 
half quatron saffron, 2/- ; one 
quatron ginger, yd ; one quat- 
ron cloves, i4d.; three pounds 
" raysens de courance," i2d. ; 
six pounds almonds, i8d. ; three 
pounds rice, 8d. ; twelve pounds 
figs, i/- ; " graynus," gd. 

Sundries. — One bushel salt, 
yd. ; two gallons red wine, 1/4 ; 
one gallon "osey," i/-; vinegar, 
6d. ; stipend of two cooks, 4/- ; 
two turners (turnspits), 2d. ; 
washing the vessels, 4d. ; rushes 
for the hall, 3d. 

Milk, cream, eggs, honey and 

other items are enumerated, 

but the details are omitted 

from the copy of the record. 

In later accounts we find much 

more extensive provision. For 

instance, an undated account 

(probably about 1461) specifies 

270 geese (at 2-J-d. each), 72 

pullets, 32 gallons of milk, and 

1,350 eggs: not to mention 

other items. The market price of eggs remained steady through the century 

at sixpence a hundred, and the year above quoted (1410) seems to have been a 

bad one for buying sheep, for their usual price in the records is sixpence each. 

In 1447 we find a curious entry ; — i^d. for laths and nails bought for the 

window of " la Schole Hous," when the pullets were there before the feast. 

In many cases minstrels were engaged to add to the pleasure of the meet- 
ing, and they were usually well paid. In 141 1 we find 3/4 paid to a harper. 




41 



in 1424 the minstrels " de Warrwick" received 2od., in 1427 a minstrel 
received 2od., while in 1464 sixpence was paid to " divers m3'nstrells " of 
Lord Warwick and Lord Gloucester. In 1410 it is evident that there was no 
plumber resident in the town, for in addition to a " stipend " of twentj' pence 
for " sowdyng" a gutter, we find a payment of one penny for keep of the horse 
of said " plumbar " for a day and a night. 

We will only mention one 
other incidental subject before 
returning to our main matter, 
and that is the light thrown 
upon the origin of surnames 
by the old records of the Guild. 
A considerable majority of the 
surnames indicate some occu- 
pation, and in many cases we 
find that it was the occupation 
actually followed by the bearer 
of the name. One of the most 
prominent nam.es in the record 
is Iremonger, and in 1427 we 
lind that the father of Thomas 
Iremonger was John Couper, 
while his mother was Awbree 
MuUevi-ard. At another time 
we find that the ironwork used 
in the Guild buildings was 
bought from one of the Ire- 
mongers. In one account of 
1460 we find a proctor called 
Robert Iremonger, while in 
another account of the same 
year he is called Robert Halle, 
Iremonger. In 1442, John 
Sclatter was chief bailiff, and 
15s. 4d. was paid to him for 
laying tiles. In 1466 we find 
STAIRS TO THE MUNIMENT ROOM, GUILD HALL. entry, — " paid WilHam Sclat- 

ter, ye sclattur, for sclattynge" 
certain houses, 14s. Thomas Payntour painted the houses, Geoffrey Baker 
supplied bread, Thomas Bedemon was the bedeman or bell-man, and Robert 
Carpenter did the timber work. There is an entry of Thomas Hore, Fissher, 
and John Fissher, servant of the aforesaid Thomas Hore. In many cases 




42 



the place of residence is used as a surname, as Wm. Beoley (of Bearle}'), 
Wm. Staffordshir, and John Hoore, " otherwise Stratford," of Winchester, 
evidently a native of Stratford who had left his own town. 

We might wander for a long time in the interesting bye-paths of these 
records, but space forbids. The Guild was near its zenith in 1478-9, when 
"the Illustrious Prince (afterwards Edward V.) the eldest son of our Lord 
the King" became a brother. He was no honorary member either, but 

manfully paid a " fine " 
of forty shillings, in a 
year when common folk 
paid 6s. 8d., and he also 
introduced a number of 
noblemen and gentle- 
men. By this time the 
Guild was strong and 
wealthy. It owned a 
large proportion of the 
houses in Stratford, 
and its lands, both in 
Stratford and the sur- 
rounding districts had 
become very extensive. 
By the beginning of the 
sixteenth century the 
Guild had passed its 
prime, and in 1547, at 
the dissolution of reli- 
gious houses under 
Henry VIII., it was 
suppressed, and its 
revenues appropriated 
by the Crown. This 
high-handed proceeding- 
resulted, amongst other 
things, in showing the 

CLOPTON HOUSE. REAR. , ^ i ^ -i i 

great value 01 the Guild, 
for though it was not restored in the same form, the state of misgovernment 
or non-government into which the town fell caused a petition to be made to 
the King, and six years after the Guild was destroyed, Edward VI., the son of 
the destroyer, gave a charter for a local corporation on practicall)- the same 
lines as the Guild, and with a portion of its ancient revenues (Charter, 
June 7, 1553). Authorities differ as to the extent to which the dissolution of 




44 



the Guild affected its school, but at the same time that the charter of incorpora- 
tion was given, the school was reorganised as the "King's New School." 
Rules were made for its government, and it was sufficiently endowed. Within 
four years of the charter, John Shakespeare was elected an officer of the 
corporation, and within less than twenty years of the endowment of the 
Grammar School, his son William became one of its scholars, as we shall see 
in later chapters. 




WELFORD VILLAGE. 



46 




Chapter III. 

SHAKESPEARE'S ANCESTORS. 



in which 
the early 



'I lay my claim to my inheritance of free descent.'' 
Richard II. Act II., Scene 3. 



HARLES Knight, at the beginning of his " Life of Shakes- 
peare," quotes from Steevens a few lines that are worthy 
careful consideration. They are: — "All that is known 
with an)' degree of certainty concerning Shakespeare is 
— that he was born at Stratford-on-Avon ; married, and 
had children there; went to London, where he commenced 
actor, and wrote poems and plays ; returned to Stratford, 
his will, died, and was buried." (Written 1773.) 
This account, exaggerated in its baldness, is useful to 
remind us that the number of actual facts known about the 
poet and his connections is very small. No scrap of his writing- 
is known to exist, except some six signatures, and possibly 
the two words, "by me," preceding the signature to his will. 
Only one letter written to him is preserved. The site of the house 
he died is known, and his grave is with us. Almost all beyond this, 
homes of his parents, the place of his birth, his education, his trade, 




47 



the very name of his wife, her home, and the circumstances of his life in 
Stratford, can only be established by conjecture, based on circumstantial 
evidence, often of a kind that is open to at least two interpretations. 

Church and town records were meagre and badly kept in the sixteenth 
century ; and the gross carelessness and ignorant vandalism of too many 
custodians have destroyed many evidences that might have been of great 
value in connection with our subject. 

The early accounts of Shakespeare's life are brief, and more or less in- 
accurate. The oldest notes are from a memorandum book of the Rev. 
John Ward, M.A., who wrote in 1662, the year of his induction as vicar of 
Stratford-on-Avon. John Aubrey, the gossip-chronicler, visited Stratford 
about the same time and collected a few particulars of doubtful value. In 
1693 a traveller recorded a chat with William Castle, then parish clerk at 
Stratford. A few notes entered about the same date, and evidently from 
current traditions, are found in a manuscript biographical notebook, kept by 
the Rev. Richard Davies, a Gloucestershire clergyman ; but the first fairly 
full account of the poet's life was written by Nicholas Rowe, a dramatist of 
the end of the seventeenth century, from particulars furnished by Thomas 
Betterton, whose respect for the poet's work led him to visit Stratford-on- 
Avon in search of biographical facts. The date of this visit is not known, but 
Betterton, the greatest Shakespearean actor of his time, took to the stage in 
1660, and Rowe's account was published in 1709. Through Sir William 
Davenant, godson of Shakespeare, and proprietor of the theatre in which 
Betterton played, there was a direct connection between the time of the poet 
and that of his first chronicler. It has been pointed out that as the poet's 
second daughter, Judith, lived to 1662, and his grand-daughter (who was 
eight years old at his death) lived to 1670, there was a good chance of obtain- 
ing fairly accurate particulars at Stratford at the time of Betterton's visit, 
especially if made, as Mr. Collier suggested, not later than 1670 to 1675. 

Malone, whose " Life of Shakespeare" was published in 1821, added much 
to our knowledge of the poet's history by a careful searching of records and 
registers, but even Malone seems to make certain important statements for 
which he quotes no authority, and which appear incredible in the face 
of ascertained facts. This tendency to set down surmises and probabilities as 
definite statements, is a weakness almost inseparable from work so largely 
conjectural as a life of Shakespeare; and all the leading writers on the subject 
seem to have fallen more or less into the trap. As they also, in some cases, 
quote the previous writer's suppositions as if they were undoubted truths, it i.s 
difficult to trace authority for many statements, and all we can promise in the 
following pages is that, so far as possible, we will avoid stating as fact any- 
thing for which we have not a copy of the original record or authority. From 
Rowe and Malone we must necessarily quote often with no other acknowledg- 



ment than this general one. Other workers have added most useful light, 
especial!}- J. O. Hallivvell- Phillips,'" whose "Outlines of the Life of 
Shakespeare," published in 1848, and revised and extended in successive 
editions until his death, in i88g, is an invaluable storehouse. Major James 
Walter, searching amongst "the descendants of Roman Catholic families, 
resident at the time in 'the Shakespeare country,'" has unearthed a great 
mass of interesting and suggestive tradition. 




THE ARDEN HOU.SE, UH.MCdTK. 

Of all the many debateable points in Shakespeare history, none has given 
rise to more discussion than the question of the social position of his 
ancestors. Both the Shakespeare and the Arden families were very extensive; 
both included many illustrious, as well as many obscure members, and it has 
been most difficult to decide with what particular branches of the family the 
poet was connected. Most important evidence is found in the draft grants 
of arms to John Shakespeare, dated 1596 and 1599. Doubt has been cast 
upon these documents because the confirmation of them has not been found; 



49 



and also because a reference to the " parents and late antecessors " was 
supposed to relate to the Arden family, who, of course, were not the 
"antecessors" of John, but of his wife, and, therefore, of his son William. 
Halliwell-Phillips said of these draft grants: — "Ridiculous statements were 
made respecting the claims of the two families. Both were really descended 
from obscure English country yeomen, but the heralds made out," &c. We 
should hesitate to contradict such an authority were it not for the distinct 
statement made as recently as i88g by Charles H. Athill, Richmond Herald 
of the Heralds' College, and published by Major Walter. It runs : — 

" I have referred to the original papers relating to the Shakespeare Grant oi 
Arms, and there can be no doubt that a patent was assigned to John 
Shakespeare, the father of the poet, in 1596, and that it was ratified 
in the subsequent assignment for Arden. 

There is also ample proof that the grantee established the fact that he was 
of sufficient social position to warrant the issue of a patent." 

With this statement as our warranty we may claim as actual ancestors of 
the poet, some of those important personages, who, otherwise, could only be 
"supposed" to be his forebears. Dugdale collected a great mass of facts as 
to the history of the Arden family, but did not conclusively prove the identity 
of his Robert Arden with the great-grandfather of Mary Arden. If the state- 
ments in the draft of arms are repudiated, doubt remains. If accepted, the 
case seems fairly clear. Turchil, a man "of especial note and power and 
great possessions," lived in Warwick at the time of the Norman Conquest. 
By the Conqueror he was confirmed in his possessions, and made military 
gpvernor of Warwick Castle. Following the Norman fashion, he took a 
surname, " de Eardene," from the Eardene or Arden, the forest land in which 
he lived and ruled. His descendants, of varying wealth and importance, 
including more than one sheriff' of the county, are traced down to Robert 
Arden, brother of Sir John Arden, squire of the body to Henry VII. 

This Robert was supposed by Knight to have been the great-grandfather 
of Mary Arden, the mother of the poet; but there is evidence to show that he 
was really her great-uncle, and that his brother, Thomas, was her grandfather. 
We find that Robert Arden, grandfather of the poet, is described, in an 
indenture of 1501, as the son of " Thome Ardern de Wylmecote ; " and in 1526 
Sir John Arden leaves fees for life to his three brothers, Thomas, Martin, and 
Robert. 

The Robert Arden in whom we are most interested, married a wife whose 
name we know not, at a date of which we have no record; and had a family 
of eight daughters.* Left a v\'idower, he married Agnes Hill (born Webbe), a 
native of Bearley, some three miles from Stratford-on-Avon, and widow of John 

'i' French, Hunter, and Mrs. Slopes say seven daughters. Phillips gives eight. 
50 



Hill, farmer, of the same place. R. B. Wheler, a very careful local historian, 
says that this good woman was sister of the wife of Richard Shakespeare, of 
Snitterfield, so that the connection between the Arden and Shakespeare 
families was an intimate one, long before the marriage of John Shakespeare 
and Mary Arden. As several of the relations will appear in our story of 
the poet's life, we have drawn up a tabular statement, on lines somewhat 
different from the ordinary pedigrees, that will convey at a glance what would 
take many words to make clear. Amongst other matters, it shews instantly 
what relatives of the poet were living at any given date, and enables us to 




SHAKESPEARE HALL, ROWINGTON. 

see who may have been interested in the births, and present at the weddings 
and funerals, that mark the family history. 

In most cases the exact date of birth is not known ; h, therefore, is the 
date of the baptismal entry. In the same way, most of the deaths are dates 
of burials, and not the actual dates of decease. The death of Gilbert Shakes- 
peare, the poet's brother, is very uncertain, as the entry of a funeral, February 
2, 1612, is of "Gilbertus Shakespeare, adolescens," and it seems hardly likely 
that a man over forty years of age would be so described. It has been 



51 



Arden, Robert 






o ^H =W c-2, 
•2, (J E ^E < E 



1557 

1558 

1559 

1560.. 

1561 

1562 

1563 

1564 

1565 

1566 

1567 



1575 
1576 
1577 
1578 
1579 
1580.. 



1603 
1604 
1605 
1606 
1607 



1612 
1613 
1614 
1615 
t6i6 

1623 
1646 



John Shakespeare- 



ed 1556 — Mary Arden. 



SE 
SO 



R m^ j; 



W. Shakespeare 
m. Anne Hath- 
away, 1582. 



Susannah Shakespe 



£(1. Is I 

_2. Sz 



. Dr. John Hall, Junes, 1607, 



1560 
1561 
1562 
1563 
1564 
1565 
1566 
1567 





-1576 




1577 


■fi 


1578 


^ 


1579 


^ 


1,80 


..K 


1,81 




1582 


■CO 


1583 
.S84 




15S5 


£'" 


1586 


5.-° 


1587 



Judith Shakespeare m 
d. Fdn-iiaryQ. l6b2. 



1613 
1614 
1615 
1616 

1623 

r646 

, February 10, 1616. 



Elizabeth Hall b. February 21, 1608. 

m. Thomas Nash, April 16, 1626. 
Thomas Nash d. April 4, 1647. 
m. Sir John Barnard, Kt., June 5, 1649. 
Sir John Barnard d. March 15, 1674. 
Elizabeth Hall (Lady Barnard) d. February 17, 1670, 



Elizabeth Hall (Lady Ba 



.rd)^ 



Shakespeare Quiney b. Noveml 

d. May 8, 1617. 
Richard Quiney b. February 9, 

d. February 26, 1639. 
Thomas Quiney b. January 23, 

d. January 28, 1639. 

X descendant of William Shakespeare. 



t. '-I 
^ d 




suf^gested that this was a young son of the poet's brother Gilbert. If so, it 
seems strange that the father's name is not given. 

Mary, the youngest daughter of Robert Arden, was destined to become the 
mother of England's greatest poet, but ere we speak of her marriage, let us 
look for a moment to the poet's other line of ancestry. 

The second draft Grant of Arms to John Shakespeare distinctly says that 
his "parent, grent-graiidfnthcr, and late antecessor, for his faithful and 
approved service to the most prudent priiiee King H. 7, of famous 
memorie, was advanced and rewarded with lands and tenements geven to him 
in those partes of Warwikeshere," etc. The italics are interlineations made 
in the draft, which afterwards separately sets out the marriage connection with 
the Arden family, and, therefore, seems to prove incontestably that the poet's 
father claimed, and the Heralds, after usual examination, allowed, an illustrious 
descent. It is open to argument, and has been strongly contended, that this 
statement about the illustrious Shakespeare was a fiction, either of the poet, 
or of the Heralds, and based upon the fact of the illustrious Arden ; who, 
according to the sceptics, being the great-grandfather of John Shakespeare's 
wife, would be, by courtesy, great-grandfather of John Shakespeare. We fail 
to see good support for this contention, but leave the question with those who 
care to examine the authorities and weigh the probabilities. Probably we 
shall never know with absolute certainty whether the particular Shakespeares 
from whom the poet was directly descended, were lordly or lowly, but for a 
long time the Shakespeare family was very numerous in Warwickshire, and 
included many members in the position of substantial yeomen and farmers, 
as well as craftsmen of good local standing. That some, at any rate, took a 
good position amongst the local gentry is well evidenced by the Shakespeare 
Hall, at Rowington, which, according to old tradition, was the home of 
Thomas Shakespeare, a brother of the poet's father. The Hall is sometimes 
spoken of as a manor house, but hardly attams to that dignity. In fact, it is 
one of some seven or eight good houses in the immediate neighbourhood, all 
of about the same period. Although long tenanted hy farmers who had no 
appreciation of its historical value, the house is well preserved, and is now 
occupied by J. W. Ryland, Esq., an antiquary, who treats it with reverent care. 
Though difficult of access, being a two miles walk from Kingswood, the 
nearest station; and though not open to the ordinary tourist, the house and 
its associations are so full of interest that we give a couple of views. The 
little room above the entrance is traditionally the room used by William 
Shakespeare, on his visits to the Hall, and the one in which he wrote 
"As You Like It." Whether the play was suggested by visits to this house, 
on the very borders of the forest of Arden, or whether the tradition was 
suggested by the play, is matter for speculation. Certain it is that the play 

55 



was written somewhere, and there seems no real reason why it should not 
have been at the house of the poet's relations, situated in the district which 
is so charmingly made the scene of action. 

Exactly what relationship (if any) existed between the poet and the 
occupants of Shakespeare Hall, in his day, has not been proved. The 
suggestion about an uncle, Thomas, rests only on local tradition. Connections 
have been traced between the Stratford, Warwick, Snitterfield, and Rowington 
branches of the family, though Halliwell-Phillips was dissatisfied with 
the evidence connecting the poet with Rowington. At the poet's death 
he owned a copyhold under the manor of Rowington, but as this was 




SNITTERFIELD CHURCH. 



on a cottage and ground forming part of the New Place estate, where he 
died, in Stratford, and as it was bought by him from Walter Getley, in 1602, 
it is no evidence of connection with the Rowington family. French suggested 
that John and Joan Shakespeare, who were registered on the roll of the Guild 
of St. Ann, at Knowle, in 1526, maj' have been the parents of Richard, the 
poet's grandfather. In 1547, however, we find Joan Shakespeare, widow, 
living at Lyannce farm, so that even if these good people were connected 
with the poet, it is probable they did not live at Shakespeare Hall. The 
problem is full of difficulty; probably it will never be certainly solved; but if 



56 



we are content to commence our history with the poet's paternal grandfather, 

we are on fairh' safe ground. Richard Shakespeare, of Snitterfield, is a man 

of whom we know something definite, and his relationship to the poet may 

be considered firmly established. He lived at Snitterfield, some four miles 

from Stratford-on-Avon, as a tenant farmer, holding land under Robert Arden, 

of Wilmcote, and also under the Guild of St. Mary, at Warwick. Of his 

commercial connections with Robert Arden we know nothing, but the records 

of the Court of the Guild of St. Mary, shew that he suffered severely in that 

terrible depression about the middle of the reign of Henry VHI., to which we 

referred in the last chapter. In 1529 " Richard Shakespeare owes suit of 

court;" in 1531 he made default and had judgment given against him. In 

'33, '37, '38, '40, and '50, similar entries are found, and it is pleasant to know 

that with the generosity characteristic of 

the old Guild;; to those who were in real 

misfortune, three of the entries indicate 

that the default was excused. These 

facts prove that Richard Shakespeare long 

struggled with debt and difficulty, and that 

one of his landlords esteemed him an 

honest man, worthy of assistance. We 

shall see that one of his sons, Henr}-, who 

remained in Snitterfield, was in similar 

straits, and was assisted by his brother 

John. The other landlord, Robert Arden, 

with whom his tenant was connected b)' 

their marriage of sisters, and whose 

favorite daughter was to become the wife 

of the tenant's son, John, was probably no 

less lenient than the Guild. 

How long Richard Shakespeare lived 
in Snitterfield we know not; nor whether ^ ^^ , tinrcH 

he was born there. We have seen his 

records as early as 1529, and we know that he was still on the farm in October, 
1560. In this year, or early in the next, he probably died, as there is no entry 
of his name in the Church registers, which date back to 1561. 

The evidence that John and Henry Shakespeare were sons of this good 
man, Richard, is very strong, but what other children he may have had does 
not appear, though there is some possibility that he had a son Thomas. The 
date of birth of neither of his sons is known, but Malone suggests that 
probably John was born in 1530. It is not known when John Shakespeare 
left Snitterfield. Many writers say it was in 1551, but this is obviously 
impossible, since, in 1552, he was resident in Henley Street, Stratford-on-Avon, 




57 



and in 1556, while residing at the same place, was described as a glover. 
We do not know where or when he learned the glover's craft, but it was certainly 
not in his native hamlet, and we know that both in Warwick and Stratford there 
were glovers before his time. No one could practise a trade without the 
usual apprenticeship, which was almost invariably seven or ten years; 
generally seven years from the fourteenth j'ear of age, so that it would seem 
likely (especially if Malone's estimate of birth- year is correct) that the young 
glover came to Stratford about 1544, and in 155 1 became free of the appren- 
ticeship and began business on his own account. 

There has been, perhaps, more contradictory speculation about the precise 
habits and character of John Shakespeare than about any other person or 
circumstance connected with the poet; and it has been commonly concluded 
that the character of the poet himself must have been largely inherited from 
his mother. This seems hardly necessary on an examination of the facts. 
Taken impartially, they delineate a character common enough in successful 
men who rise from the ranks, and in no way prove John Shakespeare 
incapable of being the father of a genius. The whole course of his life, so 
far as is known, was that of a man of enterprise and energy ; of eager, active, 
temperament, with the initiative and creative faculties strong, the reflective 
and conservative faculties comparatively weak. Such a man is, as John 
Shakespeare was, undoubtedly, a cheerful optimist; busy, sympathetic, 
generous, public-spirited, somewhat careless in detail, because liable to over- 
estimate his own powers, and prone to have too many irons in the fire. 

We have stated that he was described as a glover, whose business in those 
days included the tanning of skins (sometimes the skinning and even the 
killing of the animals) as well as the manufacture and sale of all such leather 
goods as did not come more properly into the trades of the boot maker, or the 
saddler and harness maker. Leggings and thick farming gauntlets formed 
part of the commodities, and doubtless, also, such articles as leathern aprons, 
leather breeches, "blackjacks," and "leather bottels." We know that John 
Shakespeare became the owner or occupier of considerable property, that he 
dealt in corn, and also in timber (though to what extent is not known). 
Tradition says that he was a butcher and a wool-stapler, and all these facts 
and traditions, though at first sight contradictory, fall in with the view that 
his original and principal business was a glover's (in the wide sense described 
above), and that as he prospered, his money was invested, as was usual in 
those days, in houses and land, and in commercial enterprises and specula- 
tions which he could personally supervise. The timber transaction may have 
been one of many dealings, especially since his tanning would make him a 
regular buyer of bark, or it may have been a casual speculation. The selling 
of a quantity of barley was natural to a farmer; and the treating and tanning 

58 



of sheep-skins would necessitate his dealings in skin-wool at any rate, so that 
more extensive wool-stapling might quite possibly follow. 

It has been suggested that John Shakespeare's success was largely, if not 
entirely, due to the property, social influence, and business ability of his wife, 
and the fact of his rapid advancement in prosperity and public position after 
his marriage, has been cited. This seems part of a quite unnecessary attempt 
to brand the father with incompetence, in order that his character may serve 
as a foil for the talents of the illustrious son. Without wish to detract from 
the value of Mary Arden's influence, it is well to note that before his marriage, 
John Shakespeare was firmly on the lower rounds of the ladder, and had 
made the first, usually the most difficult steps, towards wealth and position. 

In 1552 he was fined twelve pence for having too large a "muck-hill" 
before his door, but this was just the sort of thing that would happen to an 
enthusiastic busy man in a time when the only sanitary arrangement was for 
the private refuse that accumulated in the streets to be periodically removed 
to one of three or four public " muck-hills" that were equally within the 
town. The fining was doubtless a spasmodic effort of that time between the 
disestablishment of the Guild and the charter of incorporation, for two other 
Stratfordians were at the same time fined for the same offence. In 1556 he sued 
a neighbour for the value of eighteen quarters of barley, which seems to show 
either that then he was a grain grower in addition to his leather business, or 
that he had sufficient ready cash or good credit for speculation outside his own 
trade. In 1556 he purchased two houses in Stratford, one in Henley Street, 
and the other in Greenhill Street. On the 30th April, 1557, he was a juror of 
the leet, and in the same year was elected ale-taster. 

Let us now return for a moment to Robert Arden, whose descent we 
traced from an ancient and honorable house, and whose daughter, in 1557, 
married the already' prosperous glover. As we have seen, he was owner of 
part of the land farmed by Richard Shakespeare, and we know that he owned 
another farm and house in Snitterfield, as well as two farms in Wilmcote, one 
of which he occupied. From the inventory made after his death, we know 
that his home was substantial and commodious for the time, and the house 
still shewn at Wilmcote, as Mary Arden's, thoroughly bears out the idea. 
We may be sure that John Shakespeare was familiar from his youth with 
the home of his father's landlord, whom, as the husband of his mother's 
sister, he would almost regard as an uncle. No doubt his poor father, 
harassed with debt, would often point to his landlord as an example of a 
shrewd, hard-working, successful man. And no doubt the same landlord was 
anxiously consulted when the father contemplated apprenticing his boy to the 
glover's craft, that was to place him beyond those money troubles which had 
clouded the home through all his young days. We can imagine John 
Shakespeare as a lad, often calling at the Arden house after a day's ramble in 

60 



the forest, to shew his cousins the birds' eggs, the nuts, or other country 
treasures that he had collected, and to drink a bowl of milk, or munch an 
apple from the orchard, while telling all his adventures, and gazing in 
admiration on some of the eleven " painted cloths," which hung in place of 
tapestry in the hall-way and best rooms. We may be sure that on sabbath 
days and holidays Mistress Shakespeare and Mistress Arden would often meet, 
in sisterly fashion, for mutual confidence and encouragement. We may be 
sure, too, that one or other of the Arden girls would often visit the 
Shakespeare homestead with presents of some of those frugal dainties, proofs 




of their culinary ability as well as of their goodwill, 
with which country women love to give their friends 
a mild surprise. There were feast-days and fair-days in Stratford, as well 
as in their own villages and hamlets, when the lads and lasses would 
meet, decked in all their bravery, and casting care to the winds; for even 
in hard times those countrv folk knew nothing of the strenuous, anxious 
grind of modern city life. There were endless opportunities for the families 
to become acquainted, and we can imagine John Shakespeare as he pro- 
gressed in his apprenticeship, and later, as his own business began to 
prosper, often walking in an evening to Wilmcote, and telling in his hopeful 
enthusiastic wa}', of every new sign of success. We can imagine honest 
Robert Arden, after cheering and encouraging the rising young tradesman, 
standing under the pent-house roof, as the youth and his own daughters 
wandered out to the orchard, and smiling a quiet humorous smile as he 
noted that his youngest favorite daughter, Mary, was also the favorite of 



6i 



3'oung John Shakespeare. It is but right to mention that Wilmcote tradition 
(probably of ancient date) says that Robert Arden was in no way friendly 
to the match, but the facts warrant us in supposing that any objection he 
might have, was no stronger than the common and very natural objection 
of a fond father, to losing his favorite daughter. 

On November 24th, 1556, Robert Arden, " secke in Bodye and good and 
perfett of rememberence," made his last will and testament, appointing as 
his executors his daughters Alice and Mary. He made special and extensive 
bequests to these two daughters, and suitable provision for his widow (who 
already held certain valuable assets), and left the residue to his other children, 
without mentioning their names. On December i6th, in the same year, this 




ASTON CANTLOV 



will was proved. The " lande in Wilmcote cawlide Asbies," which was part 
of the bequest to Mary Arden, is of the greatest possible interest, as it plays 
an important part in the history of John and William Shakespeare. Though 
we do not know the extent or boundaries of the land, though the name, 
Asbies, has long been out of use, a house which is generally accepted as Mary 
Arden's, is still preserved, and is visited by numbers of Shakespeare pilgrims, 
to whose use it has been reserved by Samuel Lane, a farmer of the district, 
who makes a charge of a few pence for admission. The house is indeed well 
worth a visit, for whether it is or is not the actual home of Mary Arden, it 
gives us a good idea of the conditions of the well-to-do farmers of about that 
period. A long two-story house, built of the stone of the district, with low 
ceilings, wide fire-places, stone floors, and broad window-sills. The stairs to 



the upper story are built in the best room ; and the bakehouse, wash-copper, 
and rub-stone under the pent-house roof that runs behind the building, tell of 
rough, hearty times. The old draw-well stands in the small paved yard 
behind the house. A low stone wall divides this yard from the main farm 
yard with its farm buildings on each side, with its manure heaps, and its 
horse pond. A gate at one end of the house admits to the farm yard from the 
road, and at the other side of the yard, under a great pent-house roof, high 
enough to shelter a loaded hay-wain, is a gate which leads to the meadows 
and the orchard, of which we get a glimse from the back door of the house. 

The date when John Shakespeare took Mary Arden from this home is 
not known ; nor are we certain where the wedding occurred. There was no 
church in Wilmcote at that time, so probably the ceremony took place at the 
church of the parish, Aston Cantlow. The marriage was almost certainly in 



iF.GISTRV OF SHAKESPEARE S BIRTH. 



1557, for it was after the death of Robert Arden (Dec, 1556), and the first 
child of the union was baptised Joan on September 5th, 1558. This marriage 
with an heiress, the daughter of a substantial local farmer and landowner, and 
a woman doubtless in ever}- way a true helpmeet for a thriving tradesman, 
would enhance the position of John Shakespeare, and help him greatly in 
his somewhat extensive enterprises. 

In 1558 the poet's father was chosen one of the four petty constables, his 
second step toward the position of Chief Alderman which he was afterwards 
to attain, and it is interesting to note that in this year he was fined fourpence 
for not keeping his gutter clean, at which time Francis Burbage, the Chief 
Alderman, and three others were similarly fined for the same offence. On 
September 30th, 1558, John Shakespeare was, for the second time, a juror of 
the leet, and in 1559 was re-elected pett}- constable, and elected one of the 
affeerors or officers who imposed fines in the case of convictions to which no 
definite legal penalties were attached. In 1561 he was again afteeror, and 
also Chamberlain of the Borough, a post for which he seems to have been 
well fitted, for not only was he re-elected for a second year (1562-3), but we 
find that later he prepared the Chamberlain's accounts when others were in 

63 E 



office. And yet, marvellous as it appears to us now, this successful business 
man who is repeated!)' entrusted with the accounts of the Corporation, is 
generally supposed to have been so ignorant of letters and figures that 
he could not even sign his own name. Though reason almost cries out 
against such an idea, and though Knight and others have striven to show 
that inability to sign their names has not been proved against John and Mary 
Shakespeare, the whole of the evidence seems strongly to point to their 
illiteracy. 

On December 2nd, 1562, was baptised, and on April 30th, 1563, was 
buried Margaret, the second daughter of John and Mary Shakespeare. 

In 1564, on or about April 22nd, was born William, the first son, and 
possibly at that time the only child in the family in Henley Street. The 
death of his sister Joan is not recorded ; in fact, nothing is known of her 
beyond her baptismal entry on September 15th, 1558; but since another 
daughter was baptised in the same name on April 15th, 1569, it is evident 
that the first daughter must have died in infancy. Tradition says that the 
poet first saw light on April 23rd, the day of St. George, patron saint of 
England. It may well have been so, and it is fitting that he who was 
destined to be the greatest of all Englishmen should be born on the day of 
his country's saint. 




■I,,/ Gardens.) 



64 




Chapter IV. 

SHAKESPEARE'S CHILDHOOD. 



' Happy the parents of so fair a child," 

Taming of the Shrew. Act IV., Scene 5. 



E know but little of the childhood of Shakespeare, 
of the time when he was drinking in the 
influence and inspiration of a noble mother's 
ove. Not a word of direct history or even legend has 
been carried down the years, and we can only construct 
a vision of his early days from the bare walls and 
floors of his birth-house, and from the historv of his 
town. 
The birth-house has an unquestionable record from the hands 
of John Shakespeare to its present owners — the Shakespeare's 
Birthplace Trust. It is also identified as the house of Shakespeare's 
birth from a time sufficiently ancient to preclude any suggestion of 
manufactured tradition, and even the room in which the poet was 
born is shewn. It has been pointed out that though there is 
evidence that this house belonged to John Shakespeare at the time 
his son was born, there is no absolute evidence that the birth did 
not take place at some other of the homes which John Shakespeare 
is known to have occupied at one time or other. "While 




65 



this is quite true, the idea seems so unnecessary and far-fetched that we may 
well accept the birth-house with its strong presumptive evidence and its old 
tradition. Probably the house has been so far altered and restored that but 
little of the original fabric remains, and we know that its interior arrange- 
ments have, more than once, been greatly changed, but still, it is our 
Shakespeare's birthplace, a place which has received its millions of pilgrims, 
a place which has quickened the aspirations of many an enthusiast who 
came with deeper purpose than the idle curiosity of the crowd. 

The house is greatly changed from its appearance before it was taken over 
by the Trust, as will be seen by comparing the view from a negative taken 




SHAKESPEARE S BIRTHPLACE. 



by Mr. H. P. Robinson, in 1858, with the more recent views taken by our- 
selves. In making the changes, every possible care was taken to secure a 
true restoration to the old arrangement. The old timbers and main portions 
were religiously left untouched, except in so far as decay rendered some repairs 
imperative, and the alterations were confined to the removing of details known 
to be recent additions. Every possible precaution is taken for the safety of 
the home. When it was purchased, the adjoining cottages were also bought 
and pulled down, to isolate it from the risk of fire. No artificial light of any 
description is allowed within the walls, and the heating is secured by hot- 
water pipes brought under the garden, along the pathway from the Custodian's 

66 



house. The old stone floor of the main room, broken by ill-treatment during 
the time when the house was used as a butcher's shop, is left in its old 
condition, although beneath it is an older floor of oak, still good and sound. 
Rather than remove the ceiling of the birth-room, which is in a very decrepit 
state, the Trustees have entirely closed the top storey and held the plaster 
together as well as may be by a close grating of iron laths, which have a 
curious appearance. The views of the house prevent the necessity of any 
extensive description, though it is well to say that it is reall}' two dwellings, 
and has, at one time, been divided into three. 




THE "MAIN ROOM," SHAKESPEARE'S BIRTH-HOUSE. 

Visitors first enter the main room, a stone floored apartment with immense 
stone chimney-place, capable of holding and smoking many a side of bacon. 
Immediately behind is the living-room or kitchen, also with a huge chimney 
that leaves ample space within itself for a chair each side of the fire. Behind 
this again is a sort of back hall, leading to the garden, and a small snuggery 
or little parlor. From the living-room, stairs descend to the cellar, and others 
take a narrow winding way to a tiny landing between the birth-room and the 
two rooms (now thrown into one) at the rear. The birth-room is similar to 
the main room beneath it, with great chimney-place and a row of little lattice 

67 



windows. It seems lamentably bare, the few incongruous pieces of old 
furniture ranged against the walls, only add to the deserted effect, and there is 
no sense of Jioiiie. Yet what a home it must have been when this was the 
best bedroom of the thriving glover who was working his way up the ladder 
of local fame, cheered by the earnest, loving encouragement of his good wife, 
and the merry prattle of his quick, observant son. The house was never 
palatial ; but in the living-room there was the comfort of a roaring fire and a long 
high-backed settle, and seats in the chimney-corner when the wind howled 
without. There were never any paperhangings or tapestries, never any 




PARLOR, SHAKESPEARE S BIRTH-HOUSE. 



useless furniture or pretentious luxuries, but the walls were freshly whitened, 
and on them would hang " painted cloths," framed " samplers," worked by 
the house-mother in her early days ; bright arms, and the more valuable 
implements of the trade, side by side with bright household utensils, and 
possibly one or two curios brought from foreign lands to the local fairs. 
Probably there were some of the painted cloths from the Arden homestead, 
and possibly one of these illustrated in rude fashion the " Seven Ages of 
Man," a subject which vied with the story of the Prodigal Son in popularity. 
We may be sure, from what we know of the life in such homes, that there 

68 



was good store of snowy sheets, warm blankets, and heavy counterpanes for 
the cold nights, and probably a long patch-work cushion, stuffed with rags to 
mask the wooden hardness of the long settle. In those days when labor 
was cheap and material expensive, patch-work made warm quilts and 
comfortable cushions from the cast-off garments of the whole family ; and 
garments were not cast off in such a household until they would no longer 
bear mending. The cellar held good store of milk and butter and cheese, 
with brisk ale, and may be, some cyder from the Arden orchard. The long- 
settle, its seat forming two lids, held a couple of packs of flour and a couple 
of packs of meal, with a wooden scoop in each division, worn smooth and 




niRTH-ROOM. 



white with years of use. In the barn behind was grain ready to be ground, 
in the chimney swung the great thick sides of bacon, while hams, and onions 
and savory herbs, hung from the joists and rafters. The spinning wheel would 
be found in a corner, and, doubtless, was often busy. Probably there were 
stools instead of chairs, the tables and the fourpost bed were notable for 
strength, rather than beauty. Forks and tableknives were not needed, for 
broth was eaten with a wooden spoon or drunk from the bowl, while the 
solids were stolidly munched, or cut up and conveyed to the mouth with the 
knife that each one used for other purposes. Table-cloths or board-cloths 
were used on semi-state occasions only, and the platters, dishes and bowls were 

69 



probably all of wood, which could be easily cleaned by scouring with sand 
after washing. The stone floor boasted no carpet but a dressing of sand or a 
bordered pattern of chalk, but it was frequently scoured, and when finished 
off with a washing of milk, such a stone floor was the pink of cleanliness. 
For the winter weather rushes would be spread in place of carpeting. 

Outside the house was great ignorance of sanitary precaution, and no 
concern for beaut}'. The front street, as we have seen, was in a state so bad 
that we have two records of fines imposed on John Shakespeare for allowing 
the accumulation of filth by a corporation that was far from squeamish in 
such matters. At the back of the house where is now a trim garden, there 
were doubtless the tan-pits, of evil savor, a pig-sty or two, and the usual 
domestic offices of the time. But beyond these were the open gravel pits 
of the Guild, and the fields and hawthorn hedges rising away to the 
Welcombe Hills. 

In such a house Willie Shakespeare was born just as Queen Elizabeth, 
after concluding a treaty of peace with France, was resolutely turning to the 
settlement of affairs in her own land ; and the early years of his life were 
stirring times for the country. There was little or no reading in such a home, 
and by the fireside of a man like John Shakespeare the talk would range over 
the greatest possible variety of subjects — history, legend, politics, trade, 
fairy-lore, and town government. It was the ideal environment to store the 
mind of a quick impressionable lad with poetical ideas and weird conceptions. 

Adjoining the home was the workshop, or the wool sl;iop, as it is generally 
called. This place, bought from Edward West in 1556, must have proved a 
fascinating attraction to the young poet, with its changing stock of wool and 
skins, and all the work and mystery of the glover's craft. The boy was yet 
too young to take interest in his father's steady promotion from office to office, 
but we must glance at the events which were passing around him. 

In the very year of his birth (1564) a sore plague swept over Stratford. 
All strangers were forbidden to enter, and inhabitants were ordered not to 
leave the town. Stringent sanitary measures (considering the period) were 
adopted, and the town council met in the open air for fear of infection. 

Probably the mother and young child were removed from the town, for the 
prosperous tradesman who had lost two infant children, would not wish to let 
his little son take risks ; so it is likely that when about three months old, the 
poet made his first lengthy visit to either Wilmcote or Snitterfield. It is, 
indeed, possible that they moved to Clifford Chambers, where, according to 
a tradition, John Shakespeare lived for some years. Certain it is that the 
vicarage house at Clifford Chambers was at that time occupied by a John 
Shakespeare, though we know of no certain evidence that this was John 
Shakespeare the Stratford glover. It has even been suggested that possibly 
the poet was born at Clifford Chambers, but there seems no shred of evidence 

70 




THE LIBRARY AT THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 



in favor of this suggestion. Whatever maj' have happened to Mrs. Shakes- 
peare and her infant son, the father stayed in the plague-stricken town. On 
August 30th he contributed twelve pence, on September 6th, six pence, on 
September 27th, six pence, and on October 20th, eight pence, for the poor of 
the town and those that were visited by the plague. In this year occurred a 
piece of vandalism with which John Shakespeare could have had little 
sympathy if, as seems almost certain, he was a friend of the "old faith." 
Yet, as one of the chamberlains of the town, he was bound to take part in 
the payment for what he regarded as an act of sacrilege. It was the tearing 
down of the rood-loft in the Guild Chapel ; the removal of the last trace of 
papistry, as the images had already been " defaced" in 1562 and 1563. 

In March of 1565 John Shakespeare and a colleague made up the 
chamberlain's accounts, to Michaelmas 1564; on July 4th he was chosen an 
alderman, and on September 12th sworn into that office. In taking the oaths 
of office he was bound to swear allegiance to the new religion as well as to 
the Crown, but, like many others in Warwickshire, he might take his oaths 
with a mental reservation, knowing that open recalcitrancy meant ruin to his 
family as well as to himself. In September of this same year, he and 
eighteen others signed an order to John Wheeler to take the position of 
bailiff. 

In 1566 the chamberlain's accounts were placed in the hands of John 
Shakespeare alone, and it is noteworthy that in this, and in two or three 
other cases, balances were shown to be due to him from the corporation, 
which would hardly have been the case had he been in straitened circum- 
stances. On October 13th, another son, Gilbert, was baptised, a lad who in 
later years was to make a competency as a haberdasher, in London, afterwards 
returning to Stratford to act as local representative of his famous brother in at 
least one important business transaction. The records of this year shew that 
John Shakespeare became bail in two actions, for one Richard Hathaway, but 
whether the same whose daughter was afterwards to become the poet's wife, 
is unknown. 

In 1567, John Shakespeare is first recorded as Mr., and this has been taken 
as an indication that in this year the coat of arms, confirmed in 1596, was 
granted. His name is found in the attendance book of the town council on 
three occasions, and on the last of these, September 3rd, he was one of three 
persons nominated for bailiff, the highest position the town could offer. 
Ralph Cawdey, a butcher, proved the successful candidate. In this year, too, 
John Shakespeare was assessed for a royal subsid}' on goods of the value 

of £4- 

1568 again saw three nominations for bailitf, one of them being Robert 
Perrot, who was unsuccessful in the previous year. This time John 
Shakespeare was elected. Late in this year is recorded an appearance of the 

74 



players, under the patronage of the corporation, and it is quite Hkely that 
little Willie, who was afterwards to do so much for the players' art, then saw 
his first theatrical performance. The travelling actors of those days were held 
in no great repute. No women were in their company, for, at that time, and 
for a great many years longer, the playing of a theatrical part by a woman 
would have been held a scandalous exhibition. Usually the whole company 
tramped on foot from town to town, their slight wardrobe carried by one or 
two pack-horses or mules. ¥ot safety, they often joined forces with the 
regular vagrants, or school-men (as poor as their companions). The travelling 




of these three classes, in company, gave rise to the well-known old jingle : — 

Hark! hark! the dogs do bark, 

The beggars are coming to town, 
Some in rags, and some in jags, 

And some in a velvet gown. 

The players who were fortunate enough to have the nominal patronage of 
some nobleman, and a license to call themselves his servants, would crave 
permission of the town authorities to perform within its boundaries, and if 
those authorities were favorably disposed, might receive a "bespeak," with 
permission to perform two or three times in the town-hall. 



75 



In the year i668-g, the Queen's servants and those of the Earl of 
Worcester played before the town council at Stratford. The first named 
company received nine shillings, and the latter twelve pence from the public 
purse. Though it is not known that Willie Shakespeare saw these plays, 
we know that other boys exactly his own age saw similar plays in the very 
same year, and may be sure that John Shakespeare, the leading man of the 
town, bent on honoring the new departure, would take his family to the play. 
The long, somewhat low room of the Guild was far better suited for the plays 
of the day than many with which the actors had to be content, and now that 
it has been restored''" to its original condition, we can well call up the picture. 
There was no glass in the windows, but stout oak bars, just near enough together 
to prevent any one crawling through, and the breezes would be partially excluded 
by heavy hangings or tapestries. Guttering candles and smoky torches 
arranged in clusters threw a glare on players and public alike. With the stage 
not more than a foot above the general level, no scenery, few costumes, and 
scarce any "properties" beyond such articles as might be borrowed in the 
district, it was very different from the sumptuous theatrical arrangements of the 
present day. The play, too, was strong and direct in its tendency, generally 
with a melodramatic moral, and plenty of the broadest farce-comedy element. 
There was crude justice, "villainy vanquished and virtue victorious," and 
exaggerated action that were calculated to appeal strongly to simple folk and 
children ; so that we may be sure of its lasting impression on an active 
imagination such as that of the child Shakespeare. 

1569 was not, so far as we know, a very eventful year for the child whose 
career we are interested in following. His father's name occurs several times 
in the town records, now as supervising the chamberlain's accounts, now as 
witness to a couple of documents, and on sundry occasions as taking his 
place as presiding officer at meetings of the town council and the court of 
record. On April 15th a daughter was baptised, and in remembrance of the 
dear first child that the parents had loved and lost, was given the favorite 
local name of Joan. This first sister of William Shakespeare, undoubtedly 
had a great influence upon his life, and we know that she was generously 
remembered in his will. 

In 1570 and 1571 we have few records of the Shakespeare family. John 
attended council meetings, had money transactions (nature not recorded) 
with the council, and in the latter year was elected chief magistrate. On 
September 28th of that year his daughter Anna was baptised. 

So far as we have evidence, the affairs of the family were prosperous. But 
in these years the religious troubles were seething and working, and no doubt 
many a time the Shakespeare home would see an earnest little party of 

* From iheendof last, or beginning of the present, century, until 1894, the Guild-hall was divided into three 
rooms: which led some to ridicule the idea of plays ever having been given here. The restoration, in 
1894, shewed that the partitions were no portion of the original fabric. 

76 



friends of the old faith, gathered around the great hearth to discuss with 
some anxiety the news brought to the town by some chance traveller. Mary 
of Scotland was in prison, '69 and '70 saw rebellions in the north, with 
terribly stern retaliation. In '70 the Pope excommunicated Elizabeth, and a 
fanatic who posted a copy of the Bill of Excommunication on the Bishop of 
London's gate, was executed. In 1571 the puritans, who had been almost as 
repugnant to the government as the catholics, received many concessions, 
but these were far from helping the catholic cause, which was soon to receive 
a terrible blow in England, from the very success of some of its extremist 
friends in France. The unparalleled massacre of St. Bartholomew in August, 
1572, must have shocked and saddened all true catholics as well as protestants, 
and though Elizabeth evidently did not feel strong enough to vigorously 
protest, there is no doubt that in England at that time was sown that bitter 
hatred of the papists of which traces remain to this day. It must have been 
a time of great excitement and anxiety when the news came to the little town 
of Stratford, and to the home of its chief magistrate ; whose son, nearly eight 
years old, would grasp something of the seriousness of the situation. 

Surely we are justified in believing that such an event as St. Bartholomew's 
day stamped its seal on a whole lifetime. May we not further believe that when 
the doubts and fears of the time subsided, our little Shakespeare was a child 
no longer, but was turning his earnest gaze to the future — a boy of purpose. 




78 




THE BATHING PLACE. 




Chapter V. 

SHAKESPEARE'S BOYHOOD. 

'■ Then the whining school-boy with his satchel 
And shining morning face, creeping like snail 
Unwillingly to school." 

As You Like If. Act II., Scene 7. 

jM^HATEVER of autobiography there may be in 

Shakespeare's works, we may well refuse to 

believe that the quotation above given carries any 

personal confession. 'Tis true that of the great 

poet's boyhood we have not a single direct reliable 

record, but the whole circumstances of his character 

^.msijet^ ^^'^ surroundings assure us that he was never the 

1 (t^^ laggard or the dunce of his class. The eldest son 

1^ of such a home, of such a father, in the very 

morning of our greatest revival of learning, with free access 

to an excellent school, how can we believe otherwise than that 

he was an apt and cheerful scholar? He, who made such 

literary out-put as we find in the years of his early manhood, 

was no idler, no dullard or blockhead; and though we may be 

sure that he was never excessively industrious, we may be 

equally sure that he loved to match his bright wits, quick 

79 




observation, and retentive memory, against the duller brains around him. 
To imagine that he was not a scholar of the Grammar School of King 
Edward VI. is madness; to imagine him an unwilling scholar is quite 
unnecessarj". 

The school was the fine old foundation of the Guild, established about the 
beginning of the fifteenth century; and endowed by Thomas Jolyffe, priest of 
the Guild, in 1482. As we have already seen, the Guild funds were con- 
fiscated with the Guild property, by order of Henry VIII., and restored by 
Edward VI. Hence the school was known in Shakespeare's time, and is 
until this day, as King Edward the Sixth's school. 

Much of the old-time feeling clings around this school and the 
Guild Chapel to which it is attached. The great bell of the chapel (there are 
two) is still tolled at six in the morning during summer time, and is rung at 
curfew time every night during the winter. On the first of the month one 
stroke is given at the morning call, and each day a stroke is added until the 
end of the month. Six in the morning was the time for commencing lessons 
in Shakespeare's day, and the studies were continued for twelve hours, with 
brief recesses for meals and recreation. The metal of the great bell is of very 
old date, though it has comparatively recently been recast. Its smaller 
companion is younger, and is rung to call people to the chapel service, while 
the two together are the town's fire-alarm. Those who have time to spare 
will be well repaid for asking permission from the chaplain, and hunting up 
the verger, with the keys, by the climb up the narrow, worn, and winding 
stairway to the bell chamber. The old tower is quaint indeed, and there are 
beautiful views from its wind-doors, across the school playground, across 
garden and orchard, to the church of Trinity. When the sunlight falls on 
the church there are few fairer prospects. From this point of vantage we can 
easily see the plan of the Grammar school and Guildhall, the houses of the 
poor brethren of the guild, the priest's house, and the pedagogue's house, all 
clustering round the corner of the playground. 

Descending to Church Street again, we enter the passage between the 
Guild chapel and the Grammar school, and find the main doorway of the 
Guildhall, on the right, in the passage. The hall is a long, low, room, 
dating at least from 1417, though it is uncertain whether the building was 
entirely rebuilt, or only thoroughly restored, in that year. It is only so 
recently as 1894 that it has been restored to its old condition as one room, after 
being for about a century divided into three. At that restoration a few 
interesting facts came to light. On the wall opposite the main door — the end 
where the players made their stage, were traces of five frescoes. The white- 
wash that had been over them for years, or centuries, had made their 
decipherment almost impossible, even with the most careful cleaning, but we 
can make out that the centre panel is the Crucifixion, with the Virgin on one 

80 



side, and St. John on the other; while the side panels contain coats of arms. 
In another panel some old writing was found, incised in the very fine plaster, 
and, after careful photographic copj'ing, was found to be a memorandum of 
some fish-sauce and oil — probably obtained for one of the feasts of the guild 
or the corporation. 

From this hall, we pass through a doorway, over which is an undecipher- 
able inscription, with the date i6ig, into a room which is variously called the 
armour)', and the council chamber, or 'greein' room. If it was not the 
agreeing room of the guild, it was, doubtless, the "green" room of the 
players, and, perhaps, this punning possibility has led to the generally 




IHt GREEIN KOOl 



accepted name. At one time, certainly, it was the armoury. It is a quaintly 
timbered room, with an old painting of the arms of England, dating 
from the public rejoicings at the restoration of the Stuarts, in 1660. Another 
doorway leads from this room to a queer old staircase, a curious branch of 
which gives access to a tiny room, undisturbed for an indefinite period, until 
a few years ago, when its pile of dusty lumber was overhauled and revealed 
sufficiency of interesting documents to earn for it the name of the muniment 
room. The papers thus found are preserved at the birth-house museum. At 
the top of the stairs is a fine room over the armoury, now used a? the school 
library. A massive, carved, oak table, of great age, fills the centre of the 



room, and on the wall, at one end, are painted two roses — red, with white 
centre, and white, with red centre — supposed to date from 1485, when the 
wars of the roses ended by happy union of the rival houses. 

The mathematical room, over the south-westerly end of the Guildhall, 
and the Latin school-room, over the rest of that long apartment, are intensely 
interesting, as associated with Shakespeare's school days. In the northern 
corner of the Latin room stood the long desk known as Shakespeare's, and 
now preserved in the birth-house museum. It is objected by some that this 
was an usher's desk, and not a scholar's desk at all; but if we are to believe 
the tale of Audrey that Shakespeare "had been in his younger days a school 
master in the country," this difficulty vanishes. There remains the still 
greater objection (which, we fear, is a valid one) that the desk preserved in 
the birth-house is not near as old as Shakespeare's day. But, in relic worship, 
such an objection is mere detail. 

At this end of the Latin room is a "lobby," over the passage that gives 
entrance to the Guildhall, and having the tower of the Guild Chapel for one of 
its walls. Until recently, it was spanned at the level of the eaves by a 
ceiling, on the removal of which it was curious to find the chapel tower wall 
scratched all over with names and initials of scholars now gone and forgotten. 
We can only surmise the use of this curious chamber, without light, without 
ventilation. May be in early days it was a dormitory, later, a punishment 
room. Returning through the Latin room, and down the outside staircase, of 
recent date but ancient style, we come into the corner of the playfield. 
Opposite is the pedagogue's house, as ancient and as curious as the school 
itself, and between it and the Guild Chapel is a boarding house for the scholars, 
standing on the site of the house of the priest of the Guild. The pedagogue's 
house is now devoted to school purposes, providing three or four good class- 
rooms, and a tiny private room for the headmaster. The building is quaintly 
irregular, for it has hardly an exterior timber that is truly upright, or truly 
horizontal, and none of its angles are rectangles. 

Although called the pedagogue's house, there is some reason to believe 
that this ancient building is the original schoolhouse, in which lessons were 
given before the present school was built, when, possibly, the Guildhall was 
a one-storey building. 

In the school enclosure are two brick walls that we should much like to see 
removed, as they are contradictions of the original scheme. One surrounds 
the gardens of the alms-houses (formerly used by the poor brethren of the 
Guild), the other cuts off from the yard a scrap of garden behind the priest's 
house. Immediately within this latter wall is a charming old doorway, the 
Brothers' door to the chapel. Inside the chapel there is not, nor has there 
been for a century or so, any trace of this doorway. The wall is continuous, 
plastered level and smooth, for the old purpose of the door is gone. In the 

84 



old days, when the priest occupied his house and the pedagogue had his own 
rooms, when the choristers or the poorer brethren dwelt in what are now the 
alms-houses, all the buildings opened on the common court-yard, and the yard 
had also access to the chapel without the necessity of going into the street. 
Doubtless the Guildhall was the common refectory of priest and brethren, 
and the brothers' door was regularly used when they rose from their meals to 
return thanks to the Giver of all good. 

This fine old school is well worth any time we may be able to spend upon 
it, and an acquaintance with its old-time architecture, its hacked desks and 




I'EDAGOGUE S HOUSE. 



tables, and its ancient rough-hewn timbers, helps us to realise the poet's 
schooldays. The years he spent at school are commonly supposed to have 
been from 157 1 to 1578, and there is no reason to doubt the substantial 
correctness of these dates. The seventh to the fourteenth year were usually 
devoted to school learning by boys who were intended to become apprentices; 
and we are told by the chroniclers that the poet's father removed him early 
from school, for employment in his own business. The early marriage, and 
early leaving of his country, for London, are sufficient in themselves to assure 

«5 



us that the poet did not remain at school much beyond the usual time for lads 
who were not to go to college; while his father's important position in the 
town is a guarantee that he had the usual schooling of the time. Taking 
these dates, then, his masters would be: — 1570-72, Walter Roche, Fellow of 
Corpus Christi College, and Rector of Clifford; 1572-77," Thomas Hunt (to 
whom we shall refer later, as curate of Luddington, where Shakespeare was 
probably married), and 1577-78, Thomas Jenkins, M.A., St. John's College, 
Oxford. These are all men of ability, so that there is no reason to disbelieve 
that Shakespeare received a thorough ground- work of education. Thomas 
Hunt, who had the greatest opportunity of influencing the poet, was a man 
of learning and importance. His salary, we know, was twice as large 
as that of the contemporary master of Eton. His title. Sir Thomas, 
was a courtesy of the times, conferred on schoolmasters of standing — as in 
the case of Sir Hugh Evans, in "The Merry Wives." Though most 
of the schools of the same time and standing had a "petty" school, wherein 
the rudimentary English subjects were taught to scholars of from five 
to seven years, the Stratford school seems to have had no such arrangement. 
In the early records of the Guild we find frequent allowances of rent, "which 
the master and the aldermen have pardoned to him yearly, as long as he 
wishes to keep school in it," and probably this rent-subsidised preparatory 
school continued after the King's school was established. In such petty 
schools, the usual books were the ABC, the Catechism, the Psalter and 
Book of Common Prayer, and the New Testament. Passing into the lowest 
class of the grammar school, Latin grammar and accidence, with the lesser 
catechism in Latin for a reading book, would have to be mastered. The 
second year, in the second form, saw continuance of grammar, with the 
reading and memorising of dialogue, and sentences from Confabulationes 
Pueriles, or some similar book. The aim was to make Latin sufficiently 
familiar to be used in the common conversation of the school, and as a 
preliminary step, isolated words and phrases were dragged into English 
sentences. In the succeeding years a dozen books of classical prose and as 
many of verse were gone through, so that by the time of passing the sixth 
form the boys must have had a tolerable knowledge of Latin grammar and 
composition, and the command of an extensive vocabulary. They were 
encouraged to use Latin when writing to their parents and friends, and letters 
in fluent language by Richard Quiney, Shakespeare's contemporary and friend, 
are still preserved. 

While great prominence was given to Latin, and in a smaller degree to 
Greek, we must not suppose that the more useful learning for everyday lite 
was entirely neglected. Reading and writing in English were, of course, 
incidental to the learning of Latin and Greek, and sufficient arithmetic for 
ordinary commercial purposes was added. 

86 



Between the hours of school, in the long summer evenings, on the Saints' 
daj's and holidays, our Willie Shakespeare was busj' with games afield, and 
sport and adventure in the woodland. There were ample greens for rough- 
and-tumble play in the town itself, without mentioning the school playmg 
field. There were quiet games at marbles and tops ; romping games of fox 
and geese, lastibat, prisoner's base, and football in the field and streets. The 
older boys would join in the sport of archery, still in universal practice, with 
quarter-staff and cudgel play for variety. In the hot weather there was 
always the resource of a swim in the river, and all through the year there 
was the attraction of wild nature — much wilder, but far more accessible than 




SCHOOL BUILDINGS, FROM PLAYING FIELD. 

nature to-day. No one who knows Shakespeare's works, and knows the 
country too, can doubt that for years he was a constant wanderer by the 
hedge-rows and the copses. We need no record to tell us that he always 
knew where he could flush a heron, the bird of solemn and mysterious flight ; 
that he knew where the sand-martins tunnelled their nesting-places, where 
the kingfisher waited for his finny prey, and where the squirrel and the dor- 
mouse passed their winter months. Doubtless he joined his fellows in 
hunting rats and rabbits ; doubtless he baited now and then a badger, for 
though there were laws against the keeping of dogs by mean persons, a town 

87 



like Stratford-on-Avon was well supplied with ownerless dogs that were 
always ready to follow a pack of boys when sport was afoot. But though we 
may be sure he joined his fellows in their rough games, no one who knows his 
work can doubt that his happiest hours were spent in roaming afar, or that 
the spirit of his boyhood's days is embalmed in Amiens' sprightly song : 

Under the greenwood tree, 

Who loves to He with me, 

And tune his merry note 

Unto the sweet bird's throat. 
Come hither, come hither, come hither, 

Here shall he see 

No enemy, 
But winter and rough weather. 

It is the ver}' spirit of a heart)- healthy Warwickshire lad, with his quick 
imagination stirred and fed by tales of the outlaws of the greenwood ; and we 
can only wonder which bird's song he intended to immortalise in the lilting 
line, " come hither, come hither, come hither." Many commentators and 
composers have missed entirely the extra point and charm of this refrain, 
which is given by embodying the bird's song in the man's. But commentators 
have mostly forgotten their boyhood and their birds. 

We must not linger on this bright and happy time, but close this chapter 
with a glance at affairs that affected the family while Willie went to school. 
At the first meeting of the Town Council in 1672, John Shakespeare and 
Adrian Quiney (father of the Latin letter-writer) were instructed to represent 
the interests of the town at the coming Hillary term " accordinge to theire 
discrecions," and we find that John Shakespeare was present at seven 
meetings of the council. 

In 1573 John Shakespeare witnessed a conveyance, and attended two 
council meetings. 

In 1574, on March nth was baptised "Richard, sonne to Mr. John 
Shakspeer," and the father attended four council meetings. 

It may be said that these details are meagre, but they are all that remain 
to us, and they keep us in touch with John Shakespeare's life from year to year. 

I" 1575 *^he poet's father again witnessed a conveyance — of a valuable 
piece of property lying next to his own place in Henley Street. In October 
he bought two houses for ;f 40, but we have no evidence to show where these 
were situated. He is known to have attended three council meetings this year. 

All that we know of the family in 1576 is that the father attended three 
council meetings. In 1577 six council meetings were held. At one, John 
Shakespeare attended, from three he was absent, of the other two the 
attendances were not recorded. 

1578, the year in which Willie Shakespeare emerged from boyhood into 
youth, was important in the family. In this year we first find evidences that 

88 



John Shakespeare's resources are becoming crippled, and this, combined with 
the traditions to the etiect that the poet was early employed in his father's 
business, leads us to conclude that in this year he probably left school. On 
the 29th January we find the first hint that John Shakespeare was less 
prosperous than some of his fellow-aldermen. The town resolved to arm a 
number of pikemen, two billmen and one archer. The aldermen were 
assessed at six shillings and eight pence each, and burgesses at three 
shillings and fourpence, but exceptions were made in the case of two 
aldermen and five burgesses. Of the former, Mr. Plum ley was to pay five 




I HI lohllvMl ROOM, IN Tin; BIRTH-HOUSE. 
(Formerly two hcd-rooms ; one probably the Poet's. I 

shillings, and Mr. Shakespeare the same sum as the burgesses. A baker 
whose will was made on November 14th of this year, entered amongst the 

monies owing to him "of Edmonde Lambarte and Cornish for 

the debte of Mr. John Shaxper, Vli;" which seems to indicate that John 
Shakespeare required two sureties to obtain a credit of five pounds, and that 
the creditor had been forced to look to the sureties for the discharge of the 
debt. We shall see later that the loans of Edmund Lambert eventually led 
to the loss of the Asbies estate, which was mortgaged to him in this year for 
£■40. At a meeting of the council on November 19th an assessment of 
fourpence weekly for the relief of the poor was made upon all the aldermen 



with the exception of John Shakespeare and one other. Of nine council 
meetings in the year we know that he was absent from eight. The 
attendances at the other are not recorded. 

Altogether, this year was the beginning of a dark and anxious time for the 
family. Of this we may be quite sure, though there is still much mystery 
surrounding the pecuniary affairs of John Shakespeare. We have evidence 
which seems to point to absolutel}' desperate circumstances, and yet we have 
no sign that the Henley Street property was ever encumbered in any way. 
The non-attendance at the council, which began at this time, the non-atten- 
dance at church which we shall see later, the evident efforts of the council 
to excuse him, the similar efforts of the commission as to recusants, and 
finally, his allowing himself to be seized for debt, while still holding valuable 
property, seem to require explanation. 

The theories that we have yet seen seem insufficient for all the facts, and 
we can onl}' tentativelj' suggest two points that seem to us to have been 
insufficiently considered. One is the proud, headstrong nature of the man, 
John Shakespeare ; the other, his almost certain attachment to the Roman 
Catholic faith. We must remember that the town and its council were divided 
on the question of religion, and that Sir Thomas Lucy was a stern heretic- 
hunter. We must remember that during these few years " the Papists had 
been tortured and executed on the most frivolous pretences." We may be 
wrong in laying stress upon these religious differences ; but it seems to us 
absolutely necessary to an understanding of John Shakespeare's position. 

It was thus, under lowering skies and facing fortune's frown, that William 
Shakespeare, impulsive, brave and enthusiastic, left his school-days behind 
and joined his father in the battle of life. 




92 



SHAKESPEARE S DESK. 
Birth-house Museum. 




LUDDINGTl 



Chapter VI. 

SHAKESPEARE'S YOUTH & COURTSHIP. 



■ Here come the love 
Joy, gentle friends.' 



s, full of joy and mirth. 

Midsiiiiimcr Niglifs Dream. Act V., Scene 

_^^,/4 HE poet s boyhood, as we have seen, ended amid 

^M^x gathering clouds. His youth was to be a time of 

"^ storm, breaking for a moment into what we must 

behave was a brief halcyon time of early married life, 

only to close down again in a tempest which drove him 

from home and kindred. If the data concerning the 

earlier years of his life are fragmentary and contradictory, 

those concerning his youth and marriage are still more 

aggravating, for at every turn the meagre shreds of 

evidence appear to conflict with each other. 

Let us, therefore, first consider the affairs of John Shakespeare, so 

far as they are shewn by town records and similar evidence. In 1578, we 

noted a levy for the outfitting of bill-men and a bow-man. On March 

nth, 1579, is account of a levy in which John Shakespeare makes default 

in the sum of three shillings and four pence. Only a few days later, on 

April 4th, the little eight-year-old daughter, Anne, was laid to rest 




93 



beneath the elms of Trinity churchyard. On October 15th, John Shakespeare's 
reversionary interest in the Snitterfield estate was sold to Robert Webbe, 
brother of Agnes, second wife of Robert Arden. From all the ten meetings 
of the Council in this year John Shakespeare appears to have been absent. 

In 1580 the home Vv-as cheered by the birth of another son, baptised on 
May 3rd, and named Edmund, probably after Edmund Lambert, the brother- 
in-law, to whom his father was becoming hopelessly indebted. 

With a view to liquidating this debt so far as it consisted of the £"40 
mortgage on Asbies, the Shakespeares sold the Snitterfield property, in which 




\L H\l H\\\ « 



they had a direct interest, for this sum. In September John Shakespeare 
visited Edmund Lambert's home, at Barton-on-the-Heath, for the purpose of 
paying off the mortgage. The payment was refused by Lambert on the 
ground that other sums, for which he had no such security as the estate of 
Asbies, were still owing, and that he considered them a first claim. Bitterly 
disappointing as this must have been to John Shakespeare (for the law of 
forfeiture under a mortgage was most unjustly strict), we are almost bound to 
conclude that Lambert gave him some verbal undertaking to release the 
property whenever the full sum due should be tendered. But this was not 
the only trouble to befall the poet's family in this year, for on the 2gth of 
December, was buried, in the churchyard of Aston Cantlow, all that was 
mortal of Agnes Arden. The only other record that we have of this year is, 
that John Shakespeare attended none of the meetings of the Council. 



94 



1581 is a similar record of non-attendance. In 1582 only one attendance 
was made; and 1583 and 15S4 are both blank in this respect. In 1582 the 
poet's father was witness in a suit brought against the Ardens (now repre- 
sented by Robert Webbe), claiming a large portion of the Snitterfield estates. 
The result of the suit is not known. 

Meanwhile, what do we know of William Shakespeare ? There is no 
certain evidence, but the probability is that he was busy in his father's trade. 
Major Walter, the latest writer on the subject, contends that John Shakespeare 
became, soon after his marriage, a gentleman farmer, and left the business of 




\N'N'E HATHAWAY S 



MAIN ROOM. 



glover; but since he is legally described as a glover in 1552, and again in 
1586, we must conclude that this was his trade in the poet's youth. The 
internal evidence of the plays and sonnets has been held to prove that 
William Shakespeare must have been a lawyer's clerk in his 3'outh, and we 
have nothing to disprove it, but on similar evidence it has been held proven 
that he was a player, a herbalist, a seaman, a traveller in Scotland, Denmark, 
and elsewhere, and various other incongruous callings. Until further evidence 
is forthcoming we must consider him a glover. Aubrev savs (1680): — "he 
exercised his father's trade." Dowdall (1693) says: — "bound apprentice to a 
butcher." Rowe (1709), to the value of whose account we have previously 

96 



referred, says: — "upon his leaving school he seems to have gone entirely into 
that way of living which his father proposed to him." 

Before many years are over we find the poet a keen and wonderfully 
successful business man, no dreamer, but one who is besought to undertake 
affairs of importance, who conducts his own concerns, and those of such 
friends as can secure his aid, with prudence and ability. We can scarcely 
imagine that this sound judgment and practical ability can have been entirely 
unrecognised by his father, even at the close of his schooldays; and we feel 
justified in assuming that the good glover, harassed by changing fortune. 




\NNE HATHAWAY S COTTAGE. MAIN ROOM. 



would turn to his eldest son for assistance. We are fairly safe, therefore, in 
saying that during the few years before his marriage, the poet was engrossed 
with the mysteries of skins and wool, tan-bark and timber, looking after the 
farm-land that his father owned or occupied, and giving an eye to the cutters 
in the shop, and the glove sewers who worked at their houses. 

Such occupation would fill the busy days, but there were long summer 
evenings when the lads might wander to the neighbouring villages, and fair- 
days when the lasses came to town. Our poet at a very early age became 
attached to Anne Hathaway, a maiden of Shottery, some eight years his 



97 



senior. So far we may be verj' certain, for comparatively recently has been 
unearthed a marriage bond, fully confirming the story that previously rested 
on tradition. Even now it is not absolutely and conclusively proved that 
this Anne Hathaway lived at the cottage now bearing her name, or even that 
she lived at Shottery, but there are several links of evidence that confirm the 

generally accepted story, 
and none that disprove it. 
At the time of 
Shakespeare's marriage 
there were at least three 
Hathaway families living 
at Shottery ; one of which 
had members living in 
what is now called Anne 
Hathaway's cottage. 
One member of this 
family, Richard Hatha- 
way, "husbandman," 
made his will on the first 
day of September, 1581, 
which will was proven in 
London, July gth, 1582. 
The three first bequests 
are to sons, under twenty 
years of age, and then we 
find: — "Item, I give and 
bequeathe unto Agnes, 
my daughter, six pounds, 
thirtene shillinges, fower 
pence, to be paide unto 
her at the dale of her 
marriage." A similar 
bequest to his daughter 
Catherine is to be paid 
at her marriage and 
another, to his daughter Margaret, to be paid on reaching the age of seventeen. 
From this it is surmised that the two elder daughters were then contemplating 
matrimony. "Agnes" and "Anne" were interchangeable forms of the same 
name, which was also sometimes written Annis or Annes. In the same will 
IS mentioned another Agnes, who in the church registers is called Anne, and 
contemporary instances are known where the two names were used inter- 
changeably in a single sentence. It is curious, also, to note that the village 




ANNE hathaway's BEDROOM. 



98 



of St. Agnes, near Redruth, in Cornwall, is to this day called St. Ann's by 
the natives, some of whom would scarce recognise its proper name. Thomas 
Whittington, of Shottery, "my sheepherd," is mentioned in the will as a 
creditor for four pounds, six shillings, and eight pence ; and in this same 
Thomas Whittington's will, made March, 1601, we find him leaving to the 
poor of Stratford, a sum of eleven shillings "that is in the hand of Anne 
Shaxpere, wyfe unto Mr. Wyllyam Shaxpere, and is due debt unto me." 

Fulke Sandells, "my trustie friende, and neighbour," was one of the 
supervisors of Richard Hathaway's will, and John Richardson was one of the 
witnesses. We find them, also, as bondsmen in the "Bond against 




ANNE HATHAWAY S BEDROOM. 

Impediments," given at Worcester, in November, 1582, and preserved in the 
Bishop's Registry. This same bond has two seals, one of them bearing the 
initials R. H.; and these facts complete the evidence of the connection 
between Shakespeare's Anne and Richard Hathaway, to whose will we have 
referred. The bond against impediments was to "defend and save harmles 
the right reverend Father in God, Lord John Bushop of Worcester," against 
any complaint arising out of his licensing the marriage of William 
Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway with only once asking of the banns. In 
addition to this bond, we have an entrj' in the episcopal register, at Worcester, 



99 



of the issuing of a marriage license "inter Wm. Shaxpere et Anna Whateley 
de Temple Grafton." The difference of a single da\' in the dates of the 
entry, and of the bond, need not trouble us. The name Whateley, and the 
place of abode (or marriage), are of more importance. Mr. Joseph Hill, 
who has made a careful and special study of the whole question, says: — 
"there is not a shadow of doubt in my mind that it was fair copied from 

a waste-book (so-called), 
and that Annam Hathwey, 
or Annam Hathawa)', was 
the Latinised form, and 
mistaken by the copying 
clerk. Temple Grafton 
was, I believe, inserted 
because it was named as 
the place of the intended 
ceremony. This was 
almost invariably the place 
of abode of the woman." 
A suggestion so reason- 
able, we feel bound to 
accept, so far as the name 
of the bride is concerned, 
especiall)' since the name 
Hathwey is distinct enough 
in the bond itself, and 
since Anne Hathaway was 
unhesitatingly named, by 
local tradition, long before 
the marriage bond or 
an}' documentary evidence 
was known to exist. The 
question of the place of 
marriage is a little more 
difficult, as we shall see 
later. 

The facts that the bonds- 
men were men of Shottery ; men who had witnessed and supervised the 
will of Richard Hathaway, and that " the consent of hir frindes " is 
especially stipulated in the bond, are sufficient to assure us that the 
bride's family, at anyrate, were favorable to the match, though it has been 
suggested (a pure supposition) that the Shakespeares were opposed to it. 
Be that as it may, there can be no reasonable doubt that within a few days 




MRS. BAKER, DESCENDANT OF THE HATHAWAYS. 
Fro?ii a Negative by Miss Hodgson. 



of the issue of the license, or earl)- in December, 1582, William Shakespeare 
married Anne Hathaway. The comparatively short time between this date 
and the baptism of their first child on May 26th, 1583, has led some to 
question the strict morality of the poet, but for two reasons this seems 
gratuitous slander, in the absence of any other evidence. In the iirst place, 
the ceremony of hand-fasting or solemn betrothal was in those days, both 
popularly and legally equivalent to marriage, though it was always understood 
that it was a ceremony intended to be completed by the service of the church 
later. This hand-fasting was a legal bar to marriage with another person. 
It usually took place two or three months before the church service ; and in 




wills and similar documents of the period we frequently find a woman 
described as the wite of a man to whom she was not yet married by the 
church rites. A very apposite instance occurs in the will of Robert Arden, 
made July 17th, 1550, in which he mentions his daughter Agnes as " uxor 
Thome Stringer," although her marriage with Thomas Stringer did not take 
place until October 15th, 1550. 

Another suggestion made in defence of Shakespeare's character is that 
he was probably first married according to the Roman Catholic ritual, but 
afterwards, in consideration of his father's position and reputation, or in view 
of some of the harsh legislation of the time, decided to conform to the legally 



established rite. Major Walter, indeed, maintains that Shakespeare was 
married in the private Roman Catholic chapel of the Manor House of Shotterj', 
though he seems to adduce no evidence in support of his conviction. 

This is a fascinating subject, and one on which we might speculate for a long 
time. The roof room of Shottery Manor House exists, in good condition, 
and if it could by any satisfactory evidence be connected with the Shakes- 
peare wedding, it would form a charmingly quaint place of pilgrimage. 
Major Walter states definitely that public worship in the Roman Catholic 
form was continued at Shottery Manor long after it ceased to be legal, and 




BILLESLEY CHURCH. 



for such a purpose no room could be more suitable than the great one in the 
roof. In those days, although the laws were severe, the local executive 
officers were connected by the closest ties with the offenders ; in many cases 
the officers themselves were but half-hearted adherents of the new forms, and 
the old worship was generally allowed to continue so long as it was not too 
obtrusive. The ringing of bells would cease ; and instead of repairing 
openly to the church, the worshippers would quietly drop in, by twos and 
threes at the house of some wealthier neighbor, where a convenient room 
could be found for their service. 




THE ROOF ROOM, SHOTTERY MANOR. 



The church in which the legal and conformable marriage took place still 
remains uncertain, in spite of the greatest possible industry on the part of 
many devoted students who have ransacked muniment boxes and patiently 
examined all the church registers. The memorandum of issue of the license 
appears to indicate Temple Grafton as the place selected ; and on the other 
hand it is suggested that these marriages by special license were almost 
invariably performed in a little church connected with the cathedral, and on 
the day on which the license was granted. 

The honor of having been the place of Shakespeare's marriage is claimed 
by an old tradition for the little church of Billesley ; and at this point, as we 
have no very direct evidence, it is worth while to state what little is known 
about the poet's connection with the place. It was here, in 1639, that 
Shakespeare's granddaughter was married to Sir John Barnard. Amongst the 
local gossips it has "always" been reported that Billesley Hall boasted a 
good store of books, to which Shakespeare had access, and of which he made 
good use; and there is one room in the hall which has "always" been 
known as the Shakespeare room, from a tradition that there the poet slept 
when visiting Billesley. The room is panelled in a style, and with wood 
quite different from that used elsewhere in the hall, and it is evident that the 
panelling has been removed from some other place. At two corners it does 
not join ; and there are two doors in the woodwork, though the present room 
has only one, and the other is fastened against a solid wall. It is said that 
this wood was brought from New Place when the house was pulled down, but 
whether the rebuilding of New Place, after Shakespeare's time, or the final 
destruction a hundred years ago, is meant, we know not. 

There is yet another place that claims the honor of having witnessed 
Shakespeare's legal marriage, and perhaps it has the strongest balance of 
probabilities in its favor. The little hamlet of Luddington, close to Shottery, 
and some three miles from Stratford, is regarded by many Stratfordians as the 
undoubted wedding-place. The old church was long ago destroyed by fire, 
and it can never be too greatly regretted that although the register was saved 
it passed into unappreciative hands. At a time when search was being made 
in all directions for Shakespeare evidence the Shottery register was overlooked 
because it was supposed to have been burnt with the church. For years it 
continued in one of the cottages of the district, only to finally disappear. 
Fullom says that in 1862 he found many at Stratford-on-Avon who re- 
membered having seen the record of Shakespeare's marriage long after it was 
said to have been destroyed; and Mr. A. H. Wall quotes the late Mr. Charles 
E. Flower as stating that in his younger days "no one dreamed of disputing 
the assertion that Shakesneare was married at Luddington old church." 

As Thomas Hunt, master of the grammar school during Shakespeare's 
student days, was curate of Luddington when his scholar took to himself a wife, 

104 



it is pleasant to believe that the happy pair journej'ed gaily from Shotterv to his 
little church, there to receive confirmation of the marriage they had previously 
solemnised by rites more congenial to their sentiments. 

Our evidence about this legal marriage is small, while the previous hand- 
fasting, or the nonconformable marriage, rests on pure speculation. And if 
speculation and fancy are to come into play, why should we not attempt to 
complete the picture — fully warning our readers that our only evidence is our 
sense of the poetic fitness of things. We have seen that Shakespeare was a 
child of the Spring, born on the day of St. George, a day that corresponded 
(allowing for the " new style" of our calendars) with our merry May Day. 




He opened his eyes upon a woild that was just read)- to deck its May-poles, 
and closed them fifty-two years later, on the very same day. In all the 
records of the family we find a strong predominance of the April and May 
dates, and if we are to imagine his nonconformable marriage at all, we prefer 
to think of it as having taken place on a bright spring morning, when the 
hedgerows were green, and when field and woodland alike were joyous with 
the songs of birds. We can picture the occasional meetings during the 
winter, at the house of one or another neighbor, and can see the tall, 
handsome youth, the life and soul of many a party, escorting a fair maiden 
across the fields to Shottery. There are dark wet nights when he walks in 
front, swinging his horn lantern to indicate the puddles, and grasps his staff 
more firmly as they pass the dark corners of the hedgerows. There are other 



105 



nights when the earth rings sharply to the footfall, and the keen crisp air 
sends the blood coursing gaily to the finger tips ; when a walk in the moon- 
shine makes one wish that all of life might be night and frost and moonlight. 
The winter wanes, it is an early spring, and week by week there are more 
excuses for evening rambles over the Shottery fields. February is warm and 
open, with many days when the gnats dance in the sunbeams, a month that 
makes the rose-bushes push their tender green shoots a couple of inches long. 
March gives a little check. There are boisterous days, and touches of frost 
at night, but the young glover, now half recognised as a suitor, swings across 
the field-path to spend a happy hour or two at Richard Hathaway's. March 
melts into a soft, warm April. The blackthorn is in flower, the birds are 
busy with their nests, and alongside the hedgerows all is fresh and green. 
The young man is more attentive than ever, and the younger Hathaways 
cease to chaff their sister about her boy-lover, for they see that she does truly 
love the lad, though as yet she herself had hardly realised it. There is an 
evening ramble, maybe along the riverside, or over Bardon Hill ; and as the 
twilight melts into the moonlight, the man who is to move the whole world 
with his words compresses the fervor of his soul into the story of his love. 
Such scenes are sacred. 

But a few weeks later we will suppose that the solemn trothplight was 
given, and they became hand-fasted — man and wife — in the presence of their 
friends. There may have been a formal service with the rites .of the Catholic 
church, but whether this be so or not, before the hawthorn blossom had all 
melted from the hedges, William and Anne were one flesh. 

As the spring-time came again they were full of that great joy that comes 
with all new life, and the merry month of May in 1583 saw the birth of a 
daughter. There was now no thought of nonconforming. In the autumn 
they had taken special license, that they might follow the example of their 
neighbors and acknowledge the authorit}' of the church, and now the)' take 
their baby to the same font where her father was baptised, and give her the 
name — Susanna. 

Troubles were brewing for William Shakespeare. His home was soon to 
be broken up, as the eagle's nest is stirred to force the young to fly, but we 
may fairly believe that he first had a year or two of peace and happiness b)' 
his own fireside. 



106 






THE TUMBLE-DOWN STILE. 



Chapter VII. 

SEEKING A FORTUNE. 







There is a tide in the affairs of men, 
Which, tatien at the flood, leads on to fortune. 
Omitted, all the voyage of their life 
Is bound in shallows and in miseries. 

yii/iiis Casar. Act IV., Scene 



the heavens on a humble home, but not 

VVe know little with certaint)' about 

Shakespeare's early married life, but there can scarcely 

be any doubt that some time between his marriage in 

1582 and his leaving- home (? 1585), there was some 

sort of trouble or friction with the local authorities, as 

represented by Sir Thomas Lucy, of Charlecote. If 

J\^' there were not some basis of fact we can hardly conceive of the 

invention of the " deer-stealing incident," the story of the lampoon 

posted on Sir Thomas Lucy's gate post, and the identification of 

Sir Thomas Lucy with Justice Shallow, in " The Merry Wives of 

Wmdsor." To us, the probabilities seem to point to a difference of 

109 



religious opinion, possibly an irksome pett}- persecution of the Shakespeares 
by Sir Thomas Lucy. William, sensitive, impulsive, and smarting under a 
strong sense of injustice, may have been rash in denunciation or defiance of 
Sir Thomas, and then may have felt his danger and fled to London. Years 
afterwards, when the gossiping chroniclers enquired particulars of his life, 
they might well hear that trouble with Sir Thomas Lucy forced him to flee, 
and on pressing for further particulars there is good reason why those who 
did not know much of the facts should suggest that poaching was the cause 
of the trouble. At almost the very time when Shakespeare is said to have 
left his home Sir Thomas Lucy had introduced into Parliament (March, 1585) 
a bill for preserving grain and game. Game preservers were ever unpopular 

in rural England, 
and no doubt the 
introduction of this 
bill made a strong 
impression on the 
local memories. 
Probably it called 
forth strong resent- 
ment, and possibly 
Will Shakespeare 
was a leader in 
some lawless de- 
monstration. 

Great pains 
have been taken to 
shew that Shakes- 
peare could not 
THE GATi>ii()u.si;, cHAKi.i- coTK. havc been harried 

for deer- stealing, 
because there was no deer-park at Charlecote ; or for rabbit- stealing, because 
rabbits were not game. In reply, various defenders of the old story point out 
that there is a record of a deer having been sent as a present from Charlecote ; 
that if Charlecote had no deer-park, the trouble may have been in Fulbroke 
Park, which had contained deer, and which at that time was confiscate to the 
Crown, and probably in the charge of Sir Thomas Lucy ; and further that if 
the killing of rabbits was not forbidden by law, it was illegal to trespass for 
the purpose of such killing, and illegal for anyone under certain rank to own a 
dog. To these the opponents of the tradition reply with the statement, 
perfectly true, that Fulbroke Park was in the charge of Sir William Compton, 
of Compton Wynyates, and with a whole series of other considerations, but it 
seems hardly worth while to follow the argument into hair-splitting subtleties. 




Whether Shakespeare stole deer or rabbits, or whether he tore down park 
pahngs, or headed an agitation against Sir Thomas Lucy's bill, is matter of 
more or less indifference. Suffice it that we may be sure that a local trouble 
in which Sir Thomas was concerned, combined with the chafing that he must 
have felt under his father's altered circumstances, forced William Shakespeare 
to leave his home and embark upon that successful venture which placed him 
at the head of the English-speaking race. 

The incidents surrounding" this most important step should have the 
greatest possible interest for us; and as the evidence is so inconclusive that 
we cannot marshal it into any orderly argument, we will simply place it 
before our readers as full}' as space permits. 




The condition of his father's affairs has already been carefully traced to 
the point when the poet left school, probably to join his father's business. 
We have seen that there were indications of financial distress, but that 
through it all John Shakespeare retained his two houses in Henley Street free 
of encumbrance. We can see no clear explanation of these facts, unless 
the friction of religious differences, petty persecution and stubborn resentment 
afford the clue. It may be that an intolerant small majority of Protestants, 
too manly to enforce against their townsmen the terribly stringent laws of 
the time, were yet small-minded enough to harry the minority in many ways. 



We know that there was bitter thought and bitter feehng between the 
partizans of the two faiths ; and we have had sufficient experience of Httle 
local governing bodies to know how personal, political, and religious 
differences can manifest themselves in round-about spiteful ways. 

For some 3'ears previous to Shakespeare's marriage " the Papists had 
been tortured and executed on the most frivolous pretences,"* and in 1581, 

the }'ear before he was married, 
there was "great penal legislation 
against the Catholics." It is well 
to remember that this was the 
twentj'-third 3'ear of Elizabeth, and 
that even after this time there 
was a constant succession of real 
or fancied plots against the 
Queen, each with its little series of 
executions — often judicial murders. 
Well might Burleigh 
say, in his memorial to 
the Queen in 15S3, " I 
account that putting 
to death does no 
ways lessen them (the 
Catholics) ; since we 
find b }• experience 
that it worketh no 
such effect; 
persecution being the 
badge of the Church : 
and, therefore, they 
should never have the 
honor to take any pre- 
tence of mart3'rdom in 
England, where the 
fulness of blood and 
greatness of heart is 
such, that they will 
even for shameful things go bravely to death, much more when they think 
themselves to climb to heaven ; and this vice of obstinancy seems to the 
common people a divine constancy ; so that for my part I wish no lessening 
of their numbers, but by preaching and by education of the younger under 
schoolmasters."! 

* Concise English History. Lupton. + Hallam. 




TOMB OF SIR THOMAS LUCY. 



Man}' good Protestants, like Burleigh, were weary of severe repressive 
measures, but in many a case there was temptation to set these measures in 
force to gratify private spite or ambition ; and in other cases pressure was 
brought on side issues and by indirect means even when the authorities did 
not wish to impose extreme penalties. 

Under this penal legislation, Sir Thomas Lucy was one of the Com- 
missioners appointed to 
present a list of re - 
cusants who failed to 
come "monethlie to the 
churche according to hir 
Majesties lawes." The 
statute in question was 
one of 1583, which 
imposed on all persons 
over sixteen a fine of 
twenty pounds for every 
month in which the\- 
attended no service of the 
Church. We have no 
record of the first inquisi- 
tion as to recusants; but 
on September 5th, 1592, 
the Commission made a 
return of "such recusants 
as have been heretofore 
presented," and amongst 
them is found the name 
of John Shakespeare. 
Of him, and eight others 
it was noted — "It is said 
that these last nine come 
not to church for fear of 
process for debt." This 
has been held a proof of LiiMiienii iim m 

John Shakespeare's im- 

pecuniosity, but it was evidently a friendly fiction to save him from the heav}- 
fine, for the rolls of the Court of Record shew that there was no action of any 
kind against him. 

From 1577 to 1586 the poet's father was almost continually absent from 
his seat on the Town Council (surely not through shame at his financial 
position), and on the 31st August, in the last-mentioned year, he was deprived 




113 



of his position because "he doth not come to the halls when they be warned, 
nor hath not done of long time." At the same meeting, eight other 
aldermen were deprived of their seats for the same reason, a circumstance 
which seems to clearly' indicate local dissension. 

That other members of the Shakespeare family were self-willed, and that 
Ardens could suffer death for their beliefs and independence, we know. A 
century before the poet's time, in 1450, one Thomas Shakespeare, of 
Rowington, was amongst the followers of Jack Cade; and whether the poet 
knew of this or not, his treatment of Cade's rebellion, in Henry VI., part 2, 
is much more fair and sympathetic than that of some of the historians. 

Henry Shakespeare, of Snitterfield, was frequently in trouble about his 
tithes and other matters. In 1574 he was fined twopence for non-appearance 
in Court. In November, 1580, he was proceeded against for the amount of 
his tithes, but made defence that he had compounded with Rich. Brokes, of 
Warwike, "who this jurate did beleve was owner thereof." Two informations 
filed on March 14th, 1581, deal also with default in tithes. On the 21st 
November, 1581, there is another record on the same business; and on May 
22nd, 1582, excommunication is pronounced against him: — " Shagspere est 
contumax; reservata pena ut supra; dominus ad petitionem suam pronunciavit 
eum excommunicatum, pena reservata." As excommunication probably did 
not trouble Henry Shakespeare, we find him next proceeded against and 
penalised on a different pretence, for on October 25th, 1583, a fine is 
recorded: — "Of Henry Shacksper, viijd., for not havinge and wearinge cappes 
on Sondayes and hollydayes to the Churche, according to the forme of the 
statute," and as he so far disregarded the Court's authority as to fail to attend 
when summoned, there is further — "of Henry Shackesper, ijd., for not doinge 
there sute at this Courte." On several later occasions he was fined for various 
breaches of the law, but we need not go into them in detail. 

Thomas Shakespeare, of Snitterfield, too, was often in trouble for dis- 
obedience to the laws. Though it has not been conclusively established that 
he was the poet's uncle, there is probability that it was so, and in any case 
the fact of his being fined for not wearing "cappes on sondayes and hollydays 
to the Churche," throws another interesting gleam of side-light upon our 
study. This, too, was October 25th, 1583. 

And if Shakespeares could be stubborn, Ardens could show the "fulness 
of blood and greatness of heart " of which Burleigh wrote, as was proved in 
this very year, 1583, when Edward Arden was executed at Smithfield for an 
alleged plot against the Queen. Probably this action was really a piece 
of private vengeance of the Earl of Leicester, Elizabeth's favorite. Edward 
Arden, with a very few others of the Warwickshire gentlemen (amongst 
whom, however, was Sir Thomas Lucy) refused to wear the livery of 
Leicester. This was an affront, indeed, but worse that this, according to 

114 



Dugdale, was " galling- him (Leicester) by certain harsh expressions, touching 
his private access to the Countess of Essex before she was his wife." This 
was one of the society scandals of the day, and the local gossip went that the 
Countess of Essex had poisoned her husband in order to marry Leicester — 
an incident which has been suggested as the basis of the Queen's crime in 
Hamlet. Edward Arden was known to be a Catholic, and was a man of 
position and spirit — facts sufficient to have secured his removal even had his 
enemy been much less powerful than Leicester. A priest, named Hall, was 
found, who "confessed" that he and Edward Arden were conspirators with 
Master Somerville, Arden's son-in-law, also a Roman Catholic. The three 
were cast into prison. Somerville, in his despair, committed suicide, the 
informer was released, and Arden died at Smithfield. 

Having regard to all these circumstances, knowing that William Shakespeare 
was of the same blood as John and Henry, and as Edward Arden, is it any 
wonder if he should have been equally insubordinate against the local 
representative of the tyrannical laws ? 

The year 1585 has usually been assumed as that in which Shakespeare 
left his native place " for London." The onlj- evidence on the point is the 
fact that his twin children, Hamnet and Judith, were baptised on February 2nd 
of that year. If we are to resolutely believe the deer-stealing story, it is 
perhaps convenient to fix this particular date, but if the idea we have above 
set forth is correct, it seems more likely that 1583 would be the year of leaving 
home. We have no evidence that he went directly to London, though this 
has been generally assumed ; and the stories as to his beginning life by 
holding horses at the playhouse door, are very insufficiently authenticated. 
Even his extreme penur}' seems to be a gratuitous assumption. In view of 
the substantial position in which we find him a very few years later, it seems 
far more likely that the poet commenced his life away from home under 
reasonably favorable auspices, and the suggestion that he left home to become 
a member of Burbage's theatrical compan}* seems most consistent with all the 
facts. 

We know that James Burbage was a native of the Stratford district, for 
Lord Southampton, asking the patronage of the Lord Chamberlain for 
Richard Burbage, his son, and Shakespeare, says : — "they are both of one 
county, and indeed almost of one town." Malone found some reason for 
believing that John Heminge, one of the editors of Shakespeare's collected 
works, and Thomas Greene, the fourth sharer in the Blackfriars theatre, were 
also natives of Stratford or Shottery, but the evidence is not complete. 
Burbage, however, was the leading man in the Earl of Leicester's company, 
for which a patent to play anywhere except in London was obtained in Ma^', 
1574. In 1573, 1577, and 1587, the Earl of Leicester's company was paid 
for performances in Stratford. In 1587 the company became the " Lord 

116 



Chaimberlain's servants," of which, in 1589, William Shakespeare was a 
member. 

It will be seen that the evidence is very disjointed and inconclusive, but 
we think that the most natural conclusion is, that William Shakespeare, 
dissatisfied and, probably, harassed at home, joined the players' company, in 
which he had acquaintances, somewhere about 1583. A curious side-light is 
thrown upon this question by the strong circumstantial evidence collected by 
Stefansson, to shew 
that Shakespeare 
must have visited 
Denmark in 1586. 
He shews that when 
the Earl of Leicester 
led his expedition to 
the Netherlands, in 
December, 1585, his 
retinue included cer- 
tain actors, a burgher 
of Stratford-on- 
Avon, and two of the 
Arden family. He 
points out that Bur- 
bage's company (the 
Earl of Leicester's) 
was playing at the 
courtat Elsinore,from 
June 17th to Septem- 
ber i8th, 1586, and 
proves conclusively 
that whoever origin- 
all}' plotted Hamlet, 
must have had an 
intimate knowledge of 
the castle of Elsinore. 
In any case, we need 
hardly follow the 
question any deeper. The various stories of the deer-stealing, and certain 
drunken frolics; and the many versions of Shakespeare's first experiences in 
London, appear insufficiently supported to be worthy of quotation at any 
length. 

Fortunately there are many legends of pleasanter character than those 
which represent the poet as a poacher and a drunken brawler. We have else- 




117 



where spoken of the story of his frequenting Billesley Hall for the sake of the 
books it possessed. Clopton House, too, he is said to have visited for reading 
and study. There are stories of his contemplative wanderings in the Weir 
Brake, weaving fancies for the "Midsummer Night's Dream," and of steady 
work in the little room over the entrance hall of the Rowington House. But 
these, like the less creditable tales, are very vague and indefinite. 

Let us return to authentic records. On February 2nd, 1585, the parish 
register has entry — " Hamnet and Judeth, sonne and daughter to William 
Shakspere." These were the names of two respectable Stratfordians — 
Hamnet Sadler and Judith, his wife, a fact which seems to prove that 
Shakespeare was not regarded by his neighbours as a disgraced man. The 
friendship with the Sadlers continued to the last, for Hamnet Sadler 
witnessed the poet's will. 

From 1585 to 1592 we have only one single record of the doings of the 
poet — a record that shews him helping his parents in their suit for the recovery 
of Asbies, so we may well turn to the records of his father to partly fill 
the gap. 

In 1585 there were three suits against John Shakespeare for the recovery 
of debts. In 1586 there were more suits against him ; he was still described 
as a glover ; he served on two juries, and went to Coventry to become bail 
for a neighbor indicted for a felony. 

In 1587, Nicholas Lane recovered £10, part of a sum due to him from 
Henry Shakespeare, for which it was said that John had promised to be 
responsible. In 1588 and 1589 the tables were turned, and John Shakespeare 
appeared as plaintiff in various causes. The most important was an action 
in the Court of Queen's Bench, against Edmund Lambert, for the surrender 
of Asbies. It is in this case that we find William Shakespeare coupled with 
his father's affairs, the only evidence of his life between 1585 and 1592. The 
case against Lambert seems to have been withdrawn, and was probably com- 
promised by the defendant paying some further sum to complete the purchase 
of Asbies. 

In 1590, John Shakespeare served on a jury, and we have evidence that 
the Henley Street estate was still his property, for it is so described in an 
inquisition. At the same time it is interesting to note, from a petition 
addressed by the bailiffs and people of Stratford to Lord Burghley, that the 
trade of the town was greatly decayed, and the place in serious distress, its 
workers living in "great penury and misery by reason they are not set to 
work as before they have been." 

In 159 1, John Shakespeare was busy with law-suits, as plaintiff in some, 
and defendant in others. In 1592 he was mentioned in the list of recusants 
" heretofore presented " by Sir Thomas Lucy and a commission, and in the 
same year he was appraiser of the estates of two deceased neighbors. In 

118 



1593 there were two actions against John Shakespeare for the recover)' of money, 
and in 1595 another, the last time his name appears on the court records. 

Meanwhile, William Shakespeare had been rapidly making his way in 
London. In March, 1592, a new play, entitled " Harry the Sixth " (Henry VI., 
first part) was acted by the servants of Lord Strange. It at once attracted 
attention, and had an unusually successful run. The second part of the same 
play probably followed soon after, and the third part was certainly written 
and published, or played, before September of the same year. 

In the next year, 1593, "Venus and Adonis" was published, the printer being 
Richard Field, son of Henry Field, the Stratford tanner, whose goods had 
been inventoried, in 1592, by John Shakespeare. The dedication was to Lord 
Southampton, to whose favor and patronage William Shakespeare owed a 
great deal. 

We cannot go into details of all the work of the poet, and we doubt 
whether a list of the plays with their dates of production, etc., would be of 
any real interest to our readers. We cannot, either, go fully into the question 
of the character, tastes, and ability of the poet as indicated by his plays and 
sonnets, but have preferred to show, to those who know the influence of 
parentage and environment, what were the forces that could mould his 
character. A protest must be made, however, against the idea of a super- 
human omniscience which has been claimed for the poet, and which claim, 
pushed beyond the bounds of all reason, has given its principal strength to 
"the Baconian heresy." It is contended that the poet had such ample 
knowledge of sea-faring matters, of botany, of the law, and of a hundred other 
crafts that he must have had the practical experience of a professional, and 
different men find evidence of different occupations in which his early years 
must have been spent, all along the line from the work of the school-master 
to that of the humble butcher. These people prove altogether too much, and 
it only remains for the Baconian to write down Shakespeare as "a mere 
swine-herd ... a coney-catching, beer-drinking idler, or a common play 
actor, or even a prosperous stage-manager," to shew, if both positions are 
accepted, that Shakespeare could not have written the works attributed to him. 
But neither position need be accepted, and those who carefully and with the 
requisite knowledge can study Shakespeare's works, find in them the faults, as 
well as the virtues inseparable from his training. We have shewn that he 
was surely no ignorant boor, for the Grammar-school teaching, though not 
equal to the work of the universities for producing a pedant, was a liberal 
education and opened the way to all the knowledge of the time. A study of 
the poems and plays shows most fully how many of them teem with minor 
inconsistencies, how Roman citizens are clad in the garb of the middle ages ; 
how gunpowder is introduced in scenes laid before the time of its discovery 
in the West, and how the truths of geography are perverted to accommodate 

iig 



poetic truth. The wisdom we find is the fruit of quick sympathy, accurate 
observation, clear reasoning, true intuition, and fine memory — all the gifts of 
bounteous Mother Nature — used amid the unparalleled opportunities of a 
reign that seethed with brain activity. The errors we find are those that 
may be disregarded b}' the man who looks to the inner life and the spirit of 
things, they are impossible to the deeply read classic. 

The temptation to follow the poet's life in London is very great indeed, 
but the scope and purpose of this book limit us to the incidents connected 
with his own town. We may wonder what happened to his wife and three 
young children. Did they live in Henley Street, with the old glover; did they 
go, as is generally suggested, to the mother's home at Shottery ; or did they 
settle in some humble, cosy cottage of their own, where the mother could 
rear and tend her bairns in her own way, and ever take a pride in keeping her 
cottage and garden just in that perfect state in which her wandering husband 
loved to picture them ? We know that there was a period of trial and struggle 
for the brave high-spirited husband, and for the faithful wife ; but we know 
the success that rewarded one, and may imagine the pride and joy that filled 
the heart of the other. 









^■?^ 






^ '"^^m 






w^ 




f. 


1^\ ^ 




K ~ 


lg^ 




1 


^1 





IN CHARLECOTE PARK. 




Chapter VIII. 

MANHOOD AND THE CLOSE OF LIFE. 




" We are such stuff 
As dreams are made on ; and our little life 
Is rounded with a sleep." 

Tempest. Act IV., Scene i. 



ARVELLous success appears to have attended the poet, 
but it was a success won by hard work no less than by 
great genius. An accompHshed actor, a prolific poet 
and play-wright, a man of affairs with extensive 
interests, both business and personal ; to be all these 
at once needed the eager versatile temperament in- 
herited from John Shakespeare, and also the strong reserve 
force and persistence that may have come from the sturdy 
Arden stock. 1594 saw the production of " Titus Andronicus," 
the publication of " Lucrece," a poem that was an immense 
success, the publication of a second edition of "Venus and 



Adonis," and the first production of "A Comedy of Errors." So the success 
went on from year to year. In 1596, "Romeo and Juliet" took the town 
(London) by storm, and the record is a series of successive triumphs, embittered 
occasionally by the attacks of jealous rivals or by trouble with copyright 
pirates. No doubt the busy worker found occasional rest and refreshment in 
the little thatched and flower-decked home, where we pictured his wife as 
tending his children and longing for his return. In fact, we have no certain 
knowledge that the plays and poems were not written in Stratford, in brief 
respites from wandering with the travelling company or working in London. 

We may be pretty sure the poet visited Stratford in 1596, for on August 
nth of that year, his only son Hamnet was laid to rest. In January of the 
same year was buried Joan Shakespeare, of Snitterfield, possibly a relation ; 
on December 29th was buried Henry Shakespeare, of Snitterfield, and his 
widow si.x weeks later. In this year, too, application was made for a grant 
of Arms to John Shakespeare, who also sold a strip of land in Henley Street, 
thus proving that he was not reduced to poverty. 

In 1597, only twelve years after the time when he is generally supposed 
to have left Stratford, William Shakespeare bought New Place, the most 
important house in the town, and one that was known to the neighbors as 
"the great house." Originally built for Sir Hugh Clopton, late in the 
fifteenth century it is probable that the building was thoroughly out of repair 
when bought by Shakespeare, or he would hardly have obtained it for so 
small a sum as ;f 60. No doubt the house was thoroughly renovated, for it 
became the poet's residence, and remained so until his death. 

1598 was a time of famine, when those who held any store of grain were 
ordered to give to the authorities an account of the quantity. Twenty stocks 
are recorded, and of these, four were as large or larger than the stock of ten 
quarters held by the poet. John Shakespeare's name does not appear on the 
list. In this year Ben Jonson's " Every man in his own Humour " was 
produced, through the kindness of Shakespeare, if we are to believe the 
account of Rowe, who says : — " His acquaintance with Ben Jonson began 
with a remarkable piece of humanity and good nature ; Mr. Jonson, who 
was at that time altogether unknown to the world, had offered one of his 
plays to the players in order to have it acted, and the persons into whose 
hands it was put, after having turned it carelessly and superciliously over, 
were just returning it to him with an ill-natured answer that it would be of 
no use to their company, when Shakespeare luckily cast his eye upon it, and 
found something so well in it as to engage him first to read it through, and 
afterwards to recommend Mr. Jonson and his writings to the public." 

The only other matter that demands our attention in 1598 is a correspon- 
dence, in which is included the only known letter addressed to Shakespeare. 
Abraham Sturley wrote to Richard Quiney on January 24th, and mentioned 



that " our countriman, Mr. Shaksper, is willinge to disburse some monei upon 
some od yarde land or other att Shotterei orneare about us." Adrian Quiney 
wrote to his son Richard : — "Yf{ yow bargen with Wm. Sha ... or 
receive money therfor, brynge youre money homme that yow maye ; and see 
howe knite stockynges be sold ; ther ys gret byinge of them at Aysshome. 
Edward Wheat and Harry, youre brother man, were both at Evyshome thys 
daye senet, and, as I harde, bestowe 20 !i ther in knyt hosse ; wherefore I 
thynke yow maye doo good, yff yow can have money." 

On November 4th, Abraham Sturley wrote to Richard Quiney, acknow- 
ledging " Ur letter of the 25 of October . . . which imported . . . 
that our countriman Mr. Wm. Shak. would procure us monei," etc. Evidently 
Quiney had taken for granted the assistance of Shakespeare, or the poet had 
given a very prompt reply to his appeal for help, for it was only made on the 
25th of October. The appeal itself is preserved in the Birth House museum, 
and we reproduce, in facsimile, its two sides, of which, for better compre- 
hension we print the following copy : — 

Address : — 

"To my loveinge good ftrende and contreymann Mr.Wm. Shackespere 

deliver thees." 
The letter runs: — " Loveinge contreyman, — I am bolde of yow, as of a 
ffrende, craveinge your helpe with XXX //. upon Mr. Bushells and my 
securytee, or Mr. Myttons with me. Mr. Rosswell is nott come to London 
as yeate, and I have especiall cawse yow shall ffrende me muche in helpeinge 
me out of all the debettes I owe in London, I thancke God, and muche quiet 
my mynde, which wulde not be indebeted. I am nowe towardes the Cowrte, 
in hope of answer for the dispatche of my buysenes. You shall nether loase 
creddytt nor monney by me, the Lord wyllinge ; and nowe butt perswade 
yowrselfe soe, as I hope, and yow shall not need to feare butt with all hartie 
thanckefullenes I wyll hold my tyme and content yowr ffrende, and yf we 
bargaine farther, yow shal be the paiemaster yowrselfe. My tyme biddes me 
hastene to an ende, and soe I commit thys yowr care, and hope of your helpe. 
I fear I shall nott be backe thys night ffrom the Cowrte. Haste. The Lorde 
be with yow and with vs all. Amen ! ffrom the Bell in Carter Lane, the 25 
October, 1598. 

Yours in all kyndenes, 

Ryc. Quyney. 
In 1600, the Burbages, with whom Shakespeare was a partner, were busy 
in erecting a new theatre in Southwark, to which they gave the name of the 
Globe. The poet proceeded against John Clayton to recover a small debt, 
and in July of the same year Sir Thomas Lucy died. A nephew, son of 
the poet's sister, Joan Hart, was baptised August 28th, in the name of 
William. 

123 



ip 






r<6»--. 












^ 




LETTER FROM QUINEY TO SHAKESPEARE. 




THE CHANCEL, TRINITY CHURCH. 



Early in the following year, Shakespeare's company was implicated in 
the quickly suppressed rebellion of the Earl of Essex, which practically 
commenced with the performance, on February 7th, 1601, of Henry IV., " a 
play of the deposing and killing of King Richard the Second." The play 
was selected by the conspirators, who paid the players forty shillings toward 
the loss which the)' anticipated, as the play was out of date. On the failure 
of the plot, Essex and his great friend Southampton, were found guilty of 
treason ; Essex was executed, and Southampton was imprisoned for the rest 
of the Queen's reign. The Queen apparently disdained revenge on mere 
players, or Shakespeare's close connection with Lord Southampton might 
have led to serious trouble. As it was, his company performed before the 
Queen, at Richmond Palace, on February 24th, the night before the execution 
of Essex ; and the following Christmas gave four plays before the Queen, at 
Whitehall. 

Meanwhile, the good old glover had passed beyond his seventieth year, 
and realised, no doubt, that he was on the down-hill of life. Still, he was 
alert and active, and his judgment was respected by his fellow-townsmen, for 
when Sir Edward Greville took certain proceedings against the town, John 
Shakespeare was one of five men chosen to advise the counsel for the 
defence. This mark of confidence came quite in the last few months of the 
old man's life, for on September 8th, 1601, he was buried at Stratford-on- 
Avon, but whether in the church or churchyard, we know not. 

In 1602, the poet bought from William and John Combe 107 acres of land 
near Stratford-on-Avon (price ;f32o), and also bought a cottage adjoining 
New Place and standing on land held from the Manor of Rowington. In 
1603, the publishing of new plays and the issue of new editions was unusually 
active. In December, 1602, the poet's company had played before the Queen 
at Whitehall ; and on February 2nd, at Richmond, some seven weeks before 
the Queen's death, they again appeared at her command. But though honored 
by Queen and Court, the players were gradually losing favor in certain parts 
of the country, where Puritanism was hourly spreading ; and of this we have 
evidence in Stratford. Just before Christmas, 1602, a rule was made that no 
play or interlude should be performed in or about the Guild Hall, and that 
any bailiff, alderman, or burgess who gave leave or license for any such play 
should be fined ten shillings for each offence. Apparently, this rule was not 
always strictly enforced, so that the town council thought it necessary, ten 
years later, to re-introduce the rule, and raise the fine to £io- 

On May 17th, 1603, the King, James I., reached London, and within ten 
days he granted, under privy seal, a license to Shakespeare's company. 
During the summer of that year the company played at Bath, Coventry, 
Shrewsbury, Ipswich, and other places, and in December they performed 
before the King at Wilton. During the next year the company appeared 

127 



twice before the King, and as he was obliged, for fear of spreading the plague, 
to forbid their performing near London, he made them a present of ;f 30. 
When the formal entry into London occurred, in March, 1604, Shakespeare 
and his fellows were in the royal pageant. They were appointed the King's 
servants and took the court rank of Grooms of the Chamber. In Stratford, 
during the summer, Shakespeare proceeded to recover _^i 15s. lod., the 
balance of an account due on several sales of malt, and money lent. 

Before the court, during 1605, there were several performances of 
Shakespeare's plays, as well as those of other writers, and the company 




CELLAR OF THOMAS QUINEY S HOUSE. 



travelled much, as was doubtless its usual custom, in the summer. In May, 
the poet received on the death of his partner, Augustine Phillips, a legacy 
"to my fellowe, William Shakespeare, a thirty shillings piece in goold." 
Soon after this, in July, the poet made his greatest investment, paying £440 
for a portion of a lease of the tithes of Stratford, Old Stratford, Bishopton, 
and Welcombe. 

The close of the year was marked by a momentous event, important to 
King and country, and specially interesting to Stratfordians of whatever 
political or religious complexion. The event was the infamous Gunpowder 

128 




ENTRANCE HALL, THOMAS NASH S HOUSE. 

Now the New Place Museum. 



Plot, and the special interest of Stratfordians was secured by the fact that 
several of the plotters were connected with Warwickshire, while one of their 
number was resident at Clopton House, only a mile awa}'. We do not for a 
moment suggest that Shakespeare had any part or lot in the matter, that he 
was cognisant of any serious plot, or that he, necessarily,- sympathised with 
its plans and objects, but there are certain indications that he must have been 
acquainted with a number of the conspirators. We have seen the general 
spirit of the Shakespeares and some of the Ardens, and have referred to the 
connection between Shakespeare's company of players and the rebellion of 
Essex and Southampton. Robert Catesby, Thomas Winter, and John Wright, 
the three original conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot had all been actively 
and responsibly employed under Essex in his attempt. Tresham, the cousin 
of Catesby, and probably the traitor who betrayed the plot, had also been 
prominent in the conspiracy of Essex. 

Ambrose Rookwood, a young man who had frequently been prosecuted for 
harboring priests in his house, was the occupant of Clopton, and we have 
already given a view of "the priests' room," where they were sheltered. It is 
on record that he was a devout man, of studious habits, who joined the 
conspirators out of pure devotion to his friend Catesby; and we may feel sure 
that such a man, living in the manor house, was well known to the people of 
Stratford, including the Shakespeare family. Numbers of the Catholic gentry 
of Warwickshire, as well as of other parts of the Midlands, were aware that 
some plot was in progress, although not informed of its exact nature; and a 
great party of them assembled, ostensibly for a mighty hunt, at the home of 
Sir Everard Digby, at Dunchurch, twenty miles from Stratford. These hunts- 
men were all well armed, and prepared to consider and to strike a second blow 
had the first been successful. When joined by the desperate leaders of the plot, 
fleeing from London in the hope that the Catholics of the Midlands might still 
be roused to revolt, the carousing huntsmen gradually slunk awa}-. Undaunted, 
the leaders, with the few who would follow them, marched on the night of the 
Fifth towards Warwick, where they helped themselves to horses from the very 
castle itself, and defeated a sheriff's party that was hastily raised against 
them. Resting at Norbrook, near Snitterfield, they next proceeded to 
Stratford-on-Avon, where a trumpet was sounded in the Market Square, and 
the leaders of the conspirac}' made proclamation to such of the good folk of 
Stratford as dared to peer forth from their homes. Not a recruit could be 
obtained, however, and like ill-success attended the little parties detached to 
raise friends of the Catholic cause in Grafton and other neighboring villages. 
Greatly disheartened, the party pushed on to Alcester, some seven miles west 
of Stratford, and we need not follow them out of Warwickshire, or attempt to 
describe the last magnificent struggle of these desperate but undoubtedly 
sincere and valiant enemies of the King. 

130 



We have no definite knowledge of the whereabouts of Shakespeare at the 
time of the plot, but the next year (1606) was spent, as usual, travelling about 
the country, and a great number of the performances have been traced in the 
records of various provincial towns. In 1607 there were two important events 
— the marriage of the poet's daughter, Susanna, to John Hall, gentleman, on 
June 5th, and the death of his brother, Edmund, who was buried in the 
Church of St. Saviour, Southwark, on the last day of the year. As Edmund 
is described in the register as a player, we may fairly suppose that he was 
introduced to the stage as a member of his brother's company. 

A birth and a funeral 
mark the following year. 
The only child of the 
Halls was baptised 
on February 21st 
and received the name 
Elizabeth. This little 
Bessie, the poet's first 
grandchild, and the only 
one born before his 
death, was very dear to 
him, as is evidenced by 
his will. A little later in 
the year, in September, 
^, a great blow fell upon 

W the family in the loss of 

Mistress Mary Shakes- 
peare, the poet's mother. 
Her son probably 
attended the funeral, 
even if he were not at 
WELL IN NLw PLACE GARDEN. homc at the tlmc of 

her death, for the 26th 
of October he was godfather to William Walker. This summer the poet's 
company had been travelling on the South Coast, and in the autumn they 
were in the Midlands, for on October 29th they played at Coventry. 

A lawsuit against John Addenbroke was taken up on behalf of the poet by 
his cousin, Thomas Greene, and when Addenbroke could not be found under 
the execution, his bail-man became liable. A more extensive and involved 
lawsuit was begun in 1609, in relation to the tithes in which Shakespeare had 
bought an interest. The outcome of the case is not known. In the same 
year, too, Shakespeare's Sonnets were first published by Thomas Thorpe. 
It is probable that these pieces had been written without any thought of 




132 



publication, contributed to the albums of friends, and otherwise, for 
Shakespeare had nothing to do with their publication. 

More land was bought from the Combes in April of i6io, twenty acres of 
pasture adjoining the arable land previously purchased. Beyond this, the 
fact that Shakespeare's company toured the provinces, and the further fact 
that new plays were published and the old ones became more popular, we 
know nothing of this 
year. 

In the next year 
there was a subscrip- 
tion in Stratford in 
support of a bill then 
before Parliament 
" for the better re- 
payre of the highe 
w a 1 e s . " All the 
principal people con- 
tributed, including 
Dr. John Hall, the 
poet's son-in-law, 
and as Shakespeare's 
own name appears in 
the margin and not 
in the body of the 
list, it is supposed 
that he was not in 
the town at the time. 
To this time is attrib- 
uted " The Taming 
of the Shrew," and 
although the plot of 
both play and induc- 
tion is known to have 
existed in an earlier 

play, the local the avenue, trinity church, in APRIL. 

touches in Shakes- 
peare's are so important in these days of the Baconian heresy that we must 
note them in some detail. The green at Wincot we have seen in connection 
with Mary Arden's home on its very border. There Kit Sly, a drunken tinker, 
has an altercation with Marian Hacket, the fat ale-wife. A lord, returning from 
hunting, picks up the befuddled Kit, and, in sport, instructs his servants to 
take the toper to bed, and suggests that on his waking, the servants shall 




pretend that Sly is a lord, who has been mad. A party of travelHng players, 
visiting the lord's house, aid the deception, so that this scene forms the 
interlude to the proper play of " The Taming of the Shrew," which is 
supposed to have been acted by the strollers. Wincot (or Wilmecote) and its 
green remain to us ; there is a tradition as to the alehouse, and Stephen Sly, 
a relative of the tinker, is remembered as a "character," and mentioned several 




I'EST. WINDOW, 'J'RINTrV CHURCH. 



times in the town records of Stratford. Barton-on-the-Heath, mentioned in 
the play, is one of the villages near Stratford. The "lord" of that district 
was the lord of Clopton, so that Clopton House, and its fine oak-panelled 
dining-hall is obviously suggested as the scene of the play. 

The purchase of an estate in Blackfriars, close to the Blackfriars theatre, 
occurred in March of 1612, and seems to indicate that the poet had not yet 



134 



retired from the stage and London life, but probably this retirement took 
place very soon afterwards. Early in the following year died- the poet's 
brother, Richard, and he was buried on February 4th. On June 29th, 1613, 
the Globe Theatre (constructed, like other theatres at the time, of wood) was 
burned to the ground. Shakespeare was, apparently, absent. About the 
same time there was a slander in circulation smirching the fair fame of 




TRINITY CHURCH, LOOKING EAST. 



Mistress John Hall, the poet's eldest daughter, who took proceedings against 
the slanderer, John Lane, with the result that he was excommunicated. 

The bequest of £"5 to William Shakespeare, by John Combe, who died in 
July, 1614, should have prevented the currency of the story that Shakespeare 
had scurrilously lampooned his neighbor. This was a busy year for the 
poet. The Globe Theatre was rebuilt, and " saide to be the fayrest that ever 



135 



J 



was in England." He was also interested in the enclosure of the common 
fields, a project set afoot b)' William Combe, of Welcombe, apparently for his 
own benefit. 

A great fire, exceeding in its disastrous results those of 1594 and 1595 
put together, swept through Stratford-on-Avon. The Shakespeare property 
appears to have been untouched, though fifty-four dwelling-houses, together 
with much other property, estimated at the value of ;f 8,000 was consumed 
in about two hours. 

The bulk of the years 1614 and 1615 were probably passed in peace and 
contentment in Stratford. Of the real home life and personal history of the 
poet we know so very little with certainty. Rowe says that the time was 
spent " as all men of good sense will wish theirs to be, in ease, retirement, 
and the conversation of his friends." 

The preparation of the poet's will, in January, 1616, may have indicated 
that he thought his end was nigh, or may have been just the natural pre- 
caution of a time when leisure had enabled him to arrange his affairs. 
Though drafted, the will was not signed in January, and in February the 
poet's family was busy and doubtless happy about the wedding of the poet's 
daughter, Judith, to Thomas Quiney, son of the letter-writer, Richard. 
Thomas Quiney was a vintner, and took his wife to the Town Cage, their 
home for over thirty years, in the cellar of which may still be seen traces of 
the barrel slopes. The rejoicings attending this union would delay the 
signing of the will, and it would seem that the poet was suddenl}' seized 
with illness (tradition says a fever) about the end of March, for the scrivener, 
Frauncis Collyns, was hastily summoned from Warwick; the rough draft of 
the will was hastily altered, and, without waiting for fair copying, was signed 
with its interlineations. The original month, January, was corrected to 
March, but the original date, the 25th, remained unaltered. On the 23rd of 
April, the day of his birth, the poet passed away, and on the 25th his body 
was carried along Church Street, through the Old Town, past the house of 
Dr. John Hall, under the arching lime-trees in whose budding branches the 
rooks cawed noisily, and laid to rest near the altar of the old grey church, 
close to 'the murmuring river. 



■£ %f ^-.t- <&ytfj^jf^ 



{^ 



BURIAL ENTRY IN PARISH REGISTER. 



136 




Chapter IX. 

A GREAT MAN'S MEMORY. 



.^.^ 




'I have some rights of memor}' in this Kingdom." 

Hamlet. Act V., scene 5. 

" Honours thrive 

When rather from our acts we them derive 
Than our fore-goers."' 

.-4//'.? Wi-ll that Ends Well. Act II., scene 3. 



the poet's descendants, as of his ancestors, we know very 
very Httle. His children, the natural guardians of his 
memory, soon died out, as if the one grand personality had 
sapped the vigor of the family tree, and those who now 
1^^^ claim connection with the poet have surely little knowledge 
of the facts. From his sister Joan descended the Hart 
family, and as many Harts were given the christian name of Shakes- 
peare, errors are partly explicable. 

At the time of the poet's death, we may imagine his wife, then 
over sixty years of age, as a brisk and kindly dame, her hair shot 
with silver and her step less firm than when she was wooed in 
Shottery fields, but with eyes still bright and cheeks still ruddy. His 



137 



daughter Susannah, now a staid matron of thirty-three summers, and a good 
business woman, was busied with her husband's affairs and the education 
of her httle eight-year-old daughter Bess. Her husband, good Dr. John Hall, 
though sneered at because some of his prescriptions were such as only quacks 
would use in the present day, was a capable and well-educated physician, a 
Master of Arts with a Continental university training, and was making a 
reputation far beyond the limits of his own town, or even of his county. 

Joan Hart, the poet's sister: widowed only a few days before his death, 
was living in Stratford with three sons of the ages of sixteen, eleven and six 
years, and the other member of the family, the poet's daughter Judith, had 
just married Thomas Quiney. 

There were friends and neighbors in plenty to mourn the loss of him who 
had been a genial friend no less than an ornament to the town. Amongst 
them were Julius Shaw, who lived next door but one, Hamnet Sadler, for whom 
the poet's only son was named, John Robinson and Robert Whattcott, all 
of whom witnessed his will. And there was his next door neighbor, Anthony 
Nash, with his son Thomas, who was afterward to become the husband 
of Bess Hall. 

In November, 1616, Judith Quine}''s first child was christened Shakespeare, 
but less than six months later the baby died. In February, 1618, another little 
son cheered the Quiney household, and was named Richard. In November of 
the same year, Michael, the youngest son of Joan Hart, was buried. In 1620, 
(January 23rd) Thomas, son of Thomas Quiney, was baptised. 

In 1623, seven years after her husband, Mrs. Shakespeare — or as posterity 
will ever call her, Anne Hathaway — was laid in the church beside her husband's 
grave. 

Bess Hall, meanwhile, was growing to years of maturity, and on the 22nd 
of April, 1626, she was married to Thomas Nash, who lived in the house 
which is now the New Place Museum. Dr. John Hall died in 1635 and was 
buried November 26th ; and four years later there were three funerals in the 
family in two months. On January 28th, 1639, was buried Thomas, and on 
February 26th, Richard, the sons of Thomas Quiney, while on March 29th, 
William Hart, the poet's nephew, who had been a player in London, was 
buried at the Stratford church. 

The strained social conditions of the early part of the seventeenth century 
terminated in war, and in 1642 the king was sorely in need of funds, and called 
upon his loyal subjects for loans. A list of the sums raised in Stratford-on- 
Avon is preserved, from which we learn that by far the largest contribution 
came from Thomas Nash, the husband of Elizabeth Hall, who contributed 
^100. In the following year. Queen Henrietta Maria triumphantly entered 
the town at the head of 5,000 men and took up her quarters at New Place, 
where she held court for three weeks. At this time the family of Shakespeare 

138 




THK GOWliR STATUE. 



consisted of his daughters Susannah and Judith, his grand-daughter Elizabeth, 
and his sister Joan. 

The next break in the family was in April, 1647, when Thomas Nash died. 
His wife, the former Bess Hall, was married again on June 5th, 1649, to John 
Barnard, and only a month later, July i ith, 1649, saw the death of her mother, 
the poet's eldest daughter, Susannah. The youngest daughter, Judith, died on 
February gth, 1662, and probably about a year later was followed by her 
husband. 

The last remaining descendant of the poet, now Lady Barnard, died on 
February 17th, 1670. Her husband, now Sir John Barnard, lived to 1674. 




The natural keepers of the poet's memory having thus failed, the responsi- 
bility fell upon the Harts, descendants of his sister Joan, who lived in the 
birth-house, a portion of their inheritance from John Shakespeare. In this 
historic building the family dwelt until about 1793, when Thomas Hart, fifth 
in direct descent from Joan Hart, left Stratford for "Woolwich, where he died 
in 1800. Having no children to succeed him, Thomas Hart persuaded a 
relative, Thomas Hornby, to rent the house, and buy certain relics at a 
valuation in order that they might be kept together and shewn to the public. 
Thomas Hornby occupied the birth-house until his death, and afterwards his 



140 



widow kept the place until 1820, making a livelihood by shewing the house 
and the relics. In 1820 the rent was raised, and Mistress Hornby took a 
house opposite the birth-place, where she still continued to shew the relics, 
and where they were to be seen as recently as 1888. As a complete collection 
they were last in the possession of Thomas Hornby, of Kingsthorpe, grandson 
of Mary Hornby, and they were dispersed on June 4th, 1896, at the auction 
rooms of Messrs. Christie, Manson & Woods. Thirty-one lots realised 
£■130 i8s. od., the highest price for any one lot being £26. That such a 
collection was allowed to be dispersed in such manner is doubtless due to the 
fact that some of the items 
were regarded by the Birth- 
House Trust as being 
insufficiently authenticated, 
or of little interest. 

The birth-house itself was 
conveyed on May nth, 1796, 
by Thomas Hart to his brother 
John, who sold it in i8o5 to 
Thomas Court. Court died in 
1818, and on the death of his 
widow in 1846, arrangements 
were made to sell the place. 
Rumours that the house was 
likely to be sold to a well- 
known American showman 
aroused quite an excitement 
amongst certain Britons, 
who, until then, had taken 
but little interest in the place. 
Two committees were formed, 
and in 1847, when the house 
was put up for auction, it was 
bought by these committees 
jointly, the conveyance being suiosed original of the ukoeshout engraving. 

completed in 1848 to four of 

their members. In 1866 the property was finally transferred, under a public 
Trust Deed, to the Corporation of Stratford-on-Avon. 

At this point we will leave the history of the birth-house for the present, 
to turn for a moment to the work of two men to whom we can never be 
sufficiently grateful, and who must be considered as second in interest only to 
the poet's own children. Two of the three fellow-players remembered in the 
poet's will, anxious that his works should be preserved as completely as 




141 



possible, chose out the best of the acting-copies in use at his old theatre, and 
published them in collective form. The two men were John Hemings and 
Henry Condell, and the plays, published in 1623, were the famous first folio 
edition. Most of the plays had already been published singly in quarto form, 
probably by pirates, but the folio edition contained half-a-dozen works until 
then unpublished, and attracted an amount of attention that could never have 
been secured b)' the quartos. Ben Jonson wrote a poetical introduction, 
heading it — "To the memory of my beloved, the Author, Mr. William 
Shakespeare, and what he hath left us," and a portrait engraved by Marcus 
Droeshout was also included. The importance of a portrait thus authenticated 
by Jonson, and by two other men who had been intimately acquainted with 
the poet for years, can hardly be over-estimated. We may be sure that it was 
from some painting which they regarded as a fair portrait, and Jonson, at any 
rate, was satisfied with the copy, for he wrote — 
To THE Reader. 
" This Figure, that thou here seest put, 

It was for gentle Shal<espeare cut ; 

Wherein the Graver had a strife 

With Nature to out-doo the Ufe : 

O, could he but have drawne his wit 

As well in brasse, as he hath hit 

His face, the Print would then surpasse 

All, that was ever writ in brasse. 

But, since he cannot. Reader, looke 

Not on his Picture, but his Booke." 

The whereabouts of the original from which this portrait was engraved 
has been the subject of much speculation, but within the past few months 
the Memorial Library at Stratford-on-Avon has obtained a painting which is 
believed by many excellent authorities to be this very original. 

The only portrait that can compete with the Droeshout as regards un- 
doubted authenticity and early date is the bust in the parish church of Holy 
Trinity. We know that this was erected before 1623, because it is referred to 
by Leonard Digges in his poetical ascription published in the first folio 
edition of the plays. His lines commence — 

" Shakespeare, at length thy pious fellowes give 
The world thy Workes: thy Workes, by which, out-live 
Thy Tombe, thy name must when that stone is rent, 
And time dissolves thy Stratford Moniment, 
Here we alive shall view thee still." 

It is believed that the bust was provided at the sole expense of Dr. Hall 
and his wife, and certain it is that they superintended the erection. It is also 
traditionally recorded that the bust was copied from a cast of the features, 
and as death-masks were not uncommonly made by doctors in those days, it 

142 






.>-^^S^./j 



is quite possible that such a cast was taken by Dr. John Hall, handed to the 

sculptor, and, having served its purpose, left in the sculptor's hands — but of 

this more anon. The " tombe-maker" who supplied the monument was 

Gerard Johnson, the son of a Dutch tomb-maker whose yard was close to 

the Globe Theatre, and who, therefore, was probably well acquainted with 

Shakespeare's appearance. Originally the tombstone was painted to resemble 

life ; the eyes light hazel, the 

hair and beard auburn. This 

coloring on soft stone was not 

imperishable, so that early in 

the eighteenth century the figure 

was much decayed in parts, and 

in 1748 Mr. John Ward devoted 

the profits of a representation 

of Othello to the repairing and 

beautifyingof the bust. In 1793, 

Malone, with a want of taste 

for which he can never be quite 

forgiven, persuaded the vicar to 

have the bust painted white, in 

which state it remained until 

i86i,when the white was scraped 

off and the whole repainted t(3 

match as nearly as possible the 

traces of original color. In all 

these changes the bust must 

have suffered considerably. As 

it is well represented in one of 

our illustrations we need not 

describe it, but will simph- sa}' 

that both sculptors and surgeons 

are agreed that it was made by a 

craftsman rather than an artist, 

and that it is a study of a dead, 

rather than a living face. 

Next in order of interest, and 
decidedly in advance of the two portraits already mentioned, as regards artistic 
merit and realisation of our ideal of Shakespeare, comes the Chandos portrait. 
Our copy of it is from an engraving in the collection of the Earl of Warwick. 
The original picture is in the National Portrait Gallery, and, according to the 
catalogue, was the property of John Taylor, Shakespeare's contemporary, a 
plaN'er. It is supposed to have been painted by Ta}'lor or Richard Burbage. 










■; bv the S^'an Electric Engr 



145 



Taj'lor left it in his will to Sir William Davenant, after whose death it was bought 
by Betterton, the actor, to whose enthusiastic admiration of Shakespeare we 
have alread}' referred. After Betterton's death it was bought by Mr. Keck, of 
the Temple, who left it to Mr. Nicholls, of Southgate, whose daughter 
married the Marquis of Carnarvon, afterwards Duke of Chandos. Eventually, 
by the late Lord Ellesmere, it was given to the nation. This history seems 
perfectly clear, but objection has been raised that the portrait is a friendly 

artist's conception of a some- 
what idealised Shakespeare. 
Surely all Shakespeare lovers 
will appreciate the idealisa- 
tion, if any. Another portrait 
of great interest, though its 
history is unfortunately lost, 
is the " Stratford " portrait, 
now hanging in an upper 
room of the birth-house. Its 
discovery is as recent as i860. 
Previous to that time it was 
not known to be a portrait of 
Shakespeare, but was simply 
an old portrait belonging to 
the Clopton family, from 
whom it was bought with 
other pictures and the house 
in which they hung, by Mr. 
William Hunt, in 1758. In 
i860 someone suggested that 
the picture as it then stood 
was the work of two different 
periods, and two artists of very 
unequal skill. In fact, it was 
an old painting of considerable 
merit, masked by decidedly 
inferior additions. Careful removal of the later work revealed the picture we 
reproduce, and it was presented to the Birth-Place Trust by Mr. William 
Oakes Hunt. 

To return to the Droeshout portrait. As the poet died when the engraver 
of this portrait was quite young, we may be certain that it follows some earlier 
work, and within the last few months, by the generosity of Mrs. Charles E. 
Flower, the Memorial Library has been enriched by the addition of what is 
believed to be the original painting. It is an old picture on a panel of elm. 




146 



and bearing the date i6og. A large number of experts, both painters and 
antiquarians have critically examined the picture, with the result that all 
agree that there is little doubt of its having been painted in Shakespeare's 
time, or of the date having been painted at the same time as the picture. Mr. 
Poynter, R.A., and Mr. Ouless, R.A., are of the decided opinion that the picture 
was painted from life; and a well-known engraver says that the picture is 
certainl}' not a copy of the engraving, though the engraving was probably done 
from the picture, or — more likely still — from a drawing thereof. 

By far the most beautiful likeness of the poet, and one that gives us a 
loftier idea of his personality than even the Chandos portrait, is the terra-cotta 
bust depicted in our frontispiece, from the original in the Memorial Library. 
Known as the Davenant bust, and 
recently acquired by the Memorial, 
this magnificent portrait has 
attracted a great amount of atten- 
tion, though so far as we are aware, 
it has not been reproduced in any 
way. Sir William Davenant, godson 
of the poet, and one of his favorites, 
was eight years old when the poet 
died. He was an educated gentle- 
man, a courtier, soldier, musician, 
actor and poet — in fact, he held the 
position of poet Laureate. It is 
believed, also, that he was a painter 
of some ability. In 1662, while many 
of Shakespeare's contemporaries 
were still alive. Sir William 
Davenant built the Duke's Theatre, 
in Lincoln's Inn Fields. Long after the "stratford" portrait. 

his death the building was very 

greatly changed ; all except the front wall was rebuilt, and the place became 
a warehouse. In the middle of the present century it was occupied by Messrs. 
Spode and Wilkinson, the great pottery and china merchants. A few years 
ago the whole was pulled down to be replaced by a building for the Royal 
College of Surgeons, and during the demolition there was found over one of 
the front entrances, a niche, bricked up in front, and containing a terra-cotta 
bust of Ben Jonson. Unfortunately, as no such niche was suspected, the bust 
was broken by the workmen. Mr. Clint, who was superintending the 
operations, suspected there might be a similar recess over the other doorway, 
had it carefully un-bricked, and found therein the bust of Shakespeare, which 
has since been called the Davenant. By Mr. Clint the bust was given to 




147 



Sir Richard Owen, his son-in-law, who bequeathed it to the Memorial. A copy 
of it was made for the Duke of Devonshire, who gave it to the Garrick Club, 
after making two casts, one of which he retained, while the other was given 
to Sir Joseph Paxton, and by him to the Crystal Palace Company. Many 
competent judges are satisfied as to the age of the bust, while others claim that 
it is quite recent work. Certain objectors have said that the costume is later 




DAVENANT BUST AND COPY OF DEATH MASK. 



than Davenant's time, and others have gone so far as to suggest that the bust 
was made for Spode and Wilkinson, by Flaxman or one of his pupils. There 
is a date, 1846, roughly but very plainly scratched in the unfinished clay 
behind the bust; but a very curious fact about this is that some of those who 
carefully examined the bust when it first came to the Memorial, state no date 
was visible upon it at that time. The case is somewhat mysterious, and we 

148 



can scarcely conceive that a leading firm of merchants, having commissioned 
an artist like Flaxman to make two portrait studies of famous men, should be 
foolish enough to wall them up on leaving the building. 

There is onl)' one other portrait of Shakespeare to which we need here 
refer; but that is perhaps the most interesting of all, for it purports to be the 
death-mask, made by Dr. John Hall, from which the Stratford bust, and 
possibly some of the paintings were made. 
This death-mask was brought to London 
by Ludwig Becker, a portrait painter and 
naturalist of Hesse-Darmstadt, who was at 
the time living in Mayence as court painter 
to the Grand Duke. For its history we are 
indebted to Becker. He says that it was 
preserved in the family von Kesselstadt, of 
Mayence, for many generations, under the 
firm belief that it was the cast of Shakes- 
peare's dead face, and in connection with a 
small painting in oil on parchment, represent- 
ing a corpse lying in state, dated 1637, ^^d 
inscribed "Traditionen nach Shakespeare" 
(or say — "traditionally, after Shakespeare"). 
In 1842, a few months after the death of 
Count and Canon Francis von Kesselstadt, 
the family collection was sold by auction, and 
the picture was purchased by one Jourdan, 
an antiquary of Mayence, who sold it in 1847, 
to Ludwig Becker. Becker endeavoured to 
trace all particulars of its history, and heard 
of the cast from which it was alleged to have 
been painted, but could find no evidence of 
the cast having been sold, though he found 
many people who remembered its existence. 
In 1849 in a mean general-dealer's shop in a 
back street of Mayence, he saw a cast which 
he instantly recognised as the original of his 
picture, and which he gladly purchased. 
He had previously obtained a letter from Professor N. Miiller, of Mayence, 
who had intimately known Count Kesselstadt from 1790, to the effect that the 
count had regarded the painting as being undoubtedly authentic, and had 
refused some very handsome offers to purchase it. The cast bears a date a.d. 
1616. Becker's purpose in bringing the cast to England was to sell it to the 
British Museum authorities for ;f 10,000. It was kept for some time, and 




(The Goivcr Statue.) 



150 



examined with much care. Sir Richard Owen examining it critically as an 
anatomist, said he would be fully prepared to accept it as Shakespeare's face, 
and that if its history could be authentically established, there was hardly any 
price the museum would hesitate to pay for it. Various Shakespeareans who 
considered the evidence, felt it to be insufficiently strong: and, as Ludwig 
Becker died in Australia while on a Government expedition in 1861, the 
bust and painting were returned to 
Darmstadt to Dr. Ernest Becker. 

One or two of the difficulties in 
the way of the acceptance of the 
history of the death-mask have been 
cleared away, and one specially in- 
teresting point is recorded by Mr. 
A. H. Wall, an enthusiastic believer 
in the death-mask. He refers to the 
official records of foreigners in London 
which were kept during the reigns of 
Elizabeth and James I., from which 
it appears that Gerard Johnson was 
not resident in London during the 
time when Shakespeare's tomb must 
have been made. As he was a native 
of Amsterdam, it seems quite reason- 
able that the death-mask may have 
been sent to him there. 

Lord Ronald Gower, William Page, 
the great American sculptor (who 
crossed the ocean specially to examine 
and measure the death-mask), and 
many other eminent authorities are 
inclined to believe in the genuineness 
of the mask. Mr. Page wrote — 

"If England believed Shakespeare's 
face, cast from his just cooled and perfect 
features, lay in a little nook of Hesse- 
Darmstadt, do you believe she would 
not pawn her islands rather than possess 

it ? . . . While royal sons and daughters are dowered, and jewels remain in the 
Tower, Shakespeare's face lies in a foreign land unredeemed. Oh, the pity of it ! " 

The Garrick Jubilee in 1769, which marked the opening of the new Town 
Hall, and the presentation of the freedom of the Borough to David Garrick as 
the greatest actor of his time, has been regarded by many as a tribute to Garrick 





(The Goivcr Statue.) 



and a general self-glorification rather than a tribute to Shakespeare's memor}'. 
Certainly, many of the performances were hardl}' such as we should now-a- 
days consider the most fitting tribute to Shakespeare, but the long and 
laudatory account of the affair given by Wheler shews that the people of the 
time regarded it quite seriously and worked earnestly for its success. A 
great pavilion was built in the Bank Croft (where the Shakespeare Memorial 
Library now stands), and the second week in 
September was given up to feasts, balls, 
serenades, processions, masquerades, fireworks, 
and ail the accompaniments of a carnival., 
The freedom of the Borough was presented to 
Garrick in a handsomely carved box made from 
the wood of the mulberry tree planted by 
Shakespeare, and Garrick presented to the town 
the statue of Shakespeare that still stands in a 
niche on the north wall of the Town Hall. 

The more dignified celebrations which are 
now held every year in the birth -week attract a 
great number of pilgrims, and it is to be hoped 
that they will eventually become generally 
recognised as important annual events by ever;,' 
lover of English literature and the drama. The 
week which includes April 23rd is set aside for 
the celebrations, and is usually opened with 
special Shakespearean sermons at the Parish 
(Trinity) Church, the Guild Chapel, and some 
of the Nonconformist places of worship. A lead- 
ing company of players occupies the Memorial 
Theatre and gives a week of Shakespearean 
K plays, usually including one or more that have 

// been specially revived and arranged for this 

J^' purpose. Mr. J. W. Benson and Mr. Ben Greet, 

»^i^ ,, both supported by excellent companies, have 

devoted great care and skill to the birth-week 
PRINCE HAi,. performances, and the charming little theatre, 

(The GoK-cr Slatiic ) . , . ,, , , ^ j 

With Its excellent stage arrangements and 
ample scenery and effects, has done much to give a new life and deeper 
meaning to many of the less known, as well as some of the more popular of 
Shakespeare's works. About thirty of the plays, in all, have been thus 
produced, and we are tempted to hope that the dream of the founder of the 
Memorial Theatre may yet be realised, and Stratford become a national school 
of dramatic work. 




152 



During the birth-week is held the annual meeting of the Stratford-on-Avon 
Shakespeare Club, and usually one or more public dinners or suppers, at 
which the noted pilgrims to the Shakespeare shrine have an opportunity of 
meeting and knowing the guardians of the shrine itself. Another pleasant 
feature of the birth-week is that its influence is gradually spreading, and 
celebrations in various forms are becoming increasingly numerous in 
Birmingham, London, and many other centres 
both in Britain and abroad. 

We must commend every effort that tends to 
direct more attention to the great master of 
English and his work, but after all, second to 
the works themselves, the relics so reverently 
tended at Stratford-on-Avon are the great pre- 
servers of our Shakespeare's memory. 

Easily first stands the Birth-house, 
with its record of between 25,000 and 
30,000 pilgrims yearly. Here, as at the 
other places of pilgrimage, a charge is 
made for admission ; and only those who 
know the cost and care of preserving the 
various houses, providing suitable attend- 
ants and guardians, and giving assistance 
that is freely and courteously tendered to 
all Shakespearean students, can realise 
how very necessary is such a charge. 
Not only is the income necessary for the 
purchase and support of the buildings and 
for the buying of books, relics,- etc., but a 
check upon the swarms of irresponsible 
"trippers" is indispensable to the safety of 
the buildings and their contents. Photog- 
raphers and artists sometimes grumble at 
the special fees that are charged to them, 
but if they once consider the comparatively 
limited space, and the great crowds of 
people who frequently almost block the 

buildings, they will understand the necessity of severely repressing: 
photographic work and sketching, in the interests of the majority. 

The Birth-house is in the charge of Mr. Richard Savage, secretary to the 
Shakespeare's Birth-place Trust, who is very ably supported by the Misses 
Hancock, custodians, with assistants and gardener. The rooms to the left of 
the entrance are never shewn to visitors, but are reserved as a depository for 




(Tlie 



■ Statue.) 



the 



153 



K 



the Town records and documents, and as a meeting-room for the board. The 
cellar, too, is not shewn, a fact that we greatly regret, although we know it is 
based on the objection to allowing lights in the building. Still, as the cellar 
is the only part of the building that may not have suffered serious alteration 
in the centuries since the poet's time, we feel that its opening would be greatly 
appreciated, and surely could be done — including the necessary lighting — with 
very little trouble and with absolute safety. The closing of the garret storey 
of the house is easily intelligible when we know how very insecure is the 
flooring, and realise the anxiety of the Trust to avoid repairing the floor, which 
would mean destroying the old ceiling of the birth-room. 

The main room, the living-room, a little back parlor, the birth-room 
and the portrait-room are shewn by the custodians, and if the visitors 
to the house are not too numerous, those who wish may step out into 
the garden. At one time all visitors were allowed into the garden, but the 
impossibility of keeping some from "picking and stealing" caused the 
privilege to be withdrawn. 

The adjoining house, formerly the wool-shop, is converted into a museum 
and library. The objects of interest include many curiosities of Shakespeare's 
time, carvings from old churches in the district, etc., etc., as well as relics 
directly connected with the poet and his family. The original of the Quiney 
letter, the old desk at which Shakespeare is supposed to have studied, a seal- 
ring engraved with the initials 'W. S. and found man)' years ago in a field near 
the church, and a number of deeds and manuscripts are amongst the most 
important items. Many of the objects were given by Miss Wheler, sister of 
Mr. R. B. Wheler, the historian. 

Anne Hathaway's cottage, most charming of all the places of pilgrimage, is 
owned by the Birth-place Trust, and is in the charge of Mrs. Baker, an old 
lady of some eighty-five years, and a descendant of the Hathaway family. 
The simple pride with which the place is shewn, and the courtly way in 
which the old lady will offer a drink of water from Anne Hathaway's well, or 
a few leaves or flowers from the garden, always make a lasting impression, 
and add to the delight of a visit. When tourists are very numerous, Mrs. 
Baker must have a weary time, and there is little chance of these personal 
attentions. The old cottage cannot fail to delight any lover of the quaint and 
picturesque, and it requires no other curios to make it a perfect museum. In 
one of the upper rooms is an old carved oak four-post bed that belonged to 
the Hathaway family long ago ; and an old bible that usually lies on the 
little round table near Mrs. Baker's chair has the births, marriages, and 
deaths of the Hathaways entered on its fly leaf. Mrs. Baker is always ready 
to chat about the cottage and the many distinguished visitors she has 
received, and we trust she may long remam amongst the custodians of the 
poet's memor}'. 

154 



The Grammar School and Guild Hall are open to the public during 
convenient hours when the scholars are not at work, and, as at the other 
places, a small fee is charged, and the proceeds devoted to the restoration 
fund. Little need be added to the description given in Chapter V. As in 
Shakespeare's day, the school takes high rank amongst the schools of the 
country, and its masters are justly proud of the successes won by their 
scholars. Most of the masters have been men of learning and refinement, 
with pride in their school and a loving enthusiasm for the memory of its 
greatest scholar. No exceptions to this rule are the late master, the Rev. R. 
S. de Courcy Laffan, or the present master. Rev. E. J. W. Houghton. As the 
master of the Grammar School is also entrusted with the services in the ancient 
Guild Chapel, he is a most responsible custodian of the memory of the poet. 

The Guild Chapel is not usually open to visitors except on Sundays, when 
strangers are welcome to either morning or evening service. At other times 
the chapel may be seen by special request, and those who hunt up and 
make friends with the sexton, after obtaining permission from the head- 
master, may enjoy the views from the windows of the tower. The old 
frescoes which we reproduce in Chapter 11. are almost invisible now, but 
copies of them may be seen in an interesting old book in the Memorial 
Library. The tomb of Sir Hugh Clopton is in the Guild Chapel, with a 
tremendoush' long inscription detailing the many noble gifts he made to his 
native town. It has been suggested that Shakespeare may have had lessons 
in the Chapel during repairs to the Grammar School, thus obtaining the 
simile used in Twelfth Night — " cross-gartered . . . like a pedant 
that keeps a school i' the church." However this may be, he must often 
have worshipped in the little chapel, even then old and historical, that stood 
next door to his manhood's home. 

The New Place Museum, formerly the house of Thomas Nash, who 
married Shakespeare's grand-daughter, is also the property of the Birth-place 
Trust. In the main room are a number of relics of the poet, and curiosities 
found about the site of the house where he died, and in pulling down the barn 
connected therewith. The old shovel-board or shuffle-board from the Falcon 
Inn, across the way, is one of the principal objects, but there are also two high- 
backed, wool-worked chairs, known to have been in Shakespeare's possession, 
a trinket-box said to have been Anne Hathaway' s, and a wooden drinking 
flagon said to be the poet's. There are many minor relics, engravings, etc., 
and the house gives access to the site of New Place, with the little scraps of 
foundation-work carefully preserved and covered with wire netting. Here we 
may take a draught of water from the same well that supplied the poet's wants, 
though now it is bowered in ivy, while in his time it was in the cellar. In the 
enclosure is a mulberry tree, the grand-child of the tree the poet planted. 
This museum is in the care of the Secretary of the Birth-place Trust. 

155 



The New Place gardens are open, without charge, at stipulated times, and 
though there is little resemblance to the "great garden" of Shakespeare's day 
it forms a charming resting-place. Here may be seen the child of Shakespeare's 
great mulberry, and a piece of sculpture representing the poet and the muses, 
from the old Shakespeare gallery in Pall Mall. While we can never too greatly 
regret the destruction of Shakespeare's home, and of the mulberry tree that was 
his pride, we think that the man who was responsible for the deeds has been 
somewhat too harshly judged, and that there were, at any rate, two sides to 
the case. The Rev. Francis Gastrell, the gentleman in question, was a man 
of wealth, resident in Lichfield, who bought New Place in 1753, apparently for 
use as an occasional residence. Malone says that he cut down the famous 
mulberry tree "to save himself the trouble of showing it to those whose 
admiration of our great poet led them to visit the poetic ground on which it 
stood." Malone also tells us that Mr. Gastrell objected to the monthly tax 
levied on the house, holding that it should only be payable when the house 
was occupied, "but being very properlj' compelled b)' the magistrates of 
Stratford to pa\' the whole of what was levied on him, he peevishly declared 
that that house should never be assessed again, and soon afterwards pulled it 
down." It is all very well to blame the poor man who was so worried by his 
neighbors as to pull down the property which he had purchased only four years 
before, and all very well to speak of the sight-seeing throng as being led by 
"admiration of our great poet"; but surely the magistrates shewed obstinacy 
and want of tact, as well as very little reverence for the home or the spirit of 
Shakespeare, when they drove the quarrel to such an issue. Does it not remind 
us of the persecution and harrying of John Shakespeare and his son b\' a very 
similar set of petty tyrants. 

The church of the H0I3' Trinity, where lie the poet's remains, has been 
under the charge of appreciative and unappreciative vicars, but has fortunately, 
at last, fallen into the custod}' of the Rev. Geo. Arbuthnot, D.D., a genuine 
admirer of Shakespeare. Proud of the trust, he devotes to the preservation 
and restoration of the church both time and money ; and, finding these in- 
sufficient, is ever urging others to assist. Dr. Arbuthnot's earnestness and 
untiring enthusiasm are very infectious, and under his hands the church has 
greatly benefitted. Still, much remains to be done before the fabric is in a 
satisfactory, or even a safe state. The west window is so shaky with the 
buffetings of time that it seems as if the next great storm must blow it bodily 
into the church- ; the floor, laid on the cold, wet earth of the riverside, is 
sadly in need of air-space and drainage beneath ; the warming of the church 
needs improving to stay the ravages of damp and cold, and there are many 
other points that need attention. The vicar has been severely criticised at 
times for allowing a new organ and stained glass windows to take precedence 
of these necessary repairs ; but, unfortunately, the great subscribing public 

is5 



will contribute to a memorial window when it will hardly give a penny for re- 
laying a floor, and the vicar is anxious that the church should be in every 
way a worthy shrine. The church is open to visitors, and Mr. Bennett, the 
custodian, who takes the place of his uncle, the late Mr. Butler, is an interested 
and interesting guide to those who visit the place in reverent spirit. 

On entering, the visitor will find visitors' books, collection boxes, and a 
small pamphlet issued bj' the vicar as a guide to the church and a small 
memento. In a glass-topped box under the west window of the north aisle, 
is the old parish register, open at the entries of the baptism and burial of 




Shakespeare. Here, too, is the old chained bible ; and under the west 
window of the south aisle is the old font in which the poet was baptised. 
These objects are marked, respectively, i and 2 in our little plan of the 
church. Following the same plan, at 3 is a tablet to the memory of the 
Harts, a copy of an inscription placed in a corresponding position on the 
wall outside. At 3A is a little window with some scraps of stained glass in 
the upper part. These are interesting as being all that remain of a window 
recording the re-building of the choir, in the following words — "Thomas 
Balshall, Doctor of Divinity, re-edifyed this quier, and dyed Anno 1491." 
The Chapel below (4), properly called the Chapel of Our Lady the Virgin, is 
better known as the Clopton Chapel, since it contains the handsome tombs of 



157 



many of the Clopton family. The American window, indicated by 6 on the 
plan, was placed as the result of collections made entirely from Americans 
It represents the "Seven Ages of Man," as personified by Moses, Samuel, 
Jacob, Joshua, Solomon, Abraham, and Isaac. 




PLAN OF TRINITY CHURCH. 



Close beside the north chancel door is the Shakespeare monument, and 
below it, inside the altar rails, are the tombs of the poet and his family, as 
well as of some of his contemporaries. The order is shewn in the little 
diagram. Shakespeare's own epitaph reads : — 

Judicio Pylium, Genio Socratera, arte Maronem, 
Terra tegit, populus mseret, Olympus habet. 

Stay, pasenger, why goest thou by so fast, 
Read, if thou canst, whom envious death hath plast, 
Within this monument; Shakespeare, with whome 
Quick nature dide; whose name doth deck this tomb, 
Far more than cost, sith all that he hath writt, 
Leaves living art, but page to serve his witt. 

Obiit anno Domini 1676, Mtatis 53, Die 23 Ap. 

The Latin heading may be freely rendered ; — 

A Nestor in Judgment, a Socrates in Intellect, a Virgil in Art; — 
The earth covers, the people mourn, and heaven holds. 

The oft-quoted lines, which were a stock inscription with some of the 
undertakers of the end of the sixteenth century, are on the stone that covers 
the grave. 

158 



(Boo5 t'ren& tov Jcsvs saftc forbeare, 
to ^il^^^ tbc Civsst cncloascO bcare: 
aeicstc be vc man vt spares tbes stones, 
anO cvist be be gt moves ms bones. 

The tomb of John Combe was made by the same sculptor as the 
Shakespeare monument. 



J oh 


1 Combe, 161+ 




_ 




L 




]. Kendall, 


1751- 


. 






























'•SEvo 


























Altar. 










—•u 
















^5, 






































































H-^ 














a 














Anne 
Shake 


William 
- ! Shake- 


Thomas 
Nashe, 


John 
Hall, 


Susanna 
Hall, 


Watts; 


Anne 
Watts, 


1623. 


j 1616. 


16+7. 


1635. 


1649. 


1691. 


1704. 



If the south chancel door (5) is open, it is worth while to step into the 
churchj'ard for the glimpse of the poet's monument framed bj- the worn old 
stonework. The new American window (11) is in the south transept. 
Pending the receipt of funds it is incomplete, but the part already in position 
was formally unveiled on April 23rd, i8q6, by Mr. Bayard, the American 
ambassador. Near it is one of the most interesting inscriptions in the 
church (12), on the tomb of Richard Hill, a contemporary of Shakespeare. 
The upper part of the inscription is gone, but the following may be fairly well 
traced : — 

•ffjic nvtritvs evat, natvs, nvnc bic jacet billvs, 
bicqve magistvatvs fama tei- mvneic fvnctvs ; 
cvmqve bonos annos vijisset septvaginta, 
aD tcvram eovpvs, sc& mens niigravit ati astva. 

beare borne, beare liveO, beare &ie5, an& b\n■ie^ beare, 
lietb ricbarOe bil, tbrise bailil of tbis borrow ; 
too matrones of gooC> fame, be marrie5 in cioC>es feare, 
anS now releaste in joi, be reasts from worlOLie sorrow. 



159 



beave lietb intombcti tbc corpe of vicbavije bill, 

a woolen &raper becinci in bis time, 

vvboBC virtves live, vvbose fame ^ootb flori6b etil, 

tbovgb bee besolveS be to 5v6t and alime. 

a mirror be, anCi paterne mai be made, 

for svcb ae sball 6VckceaCi bini in tbat trabe ; 

be bib not vse to svvearc, to gloase, eitber faigne, 

bis brotbcr to befravbe in barganinge; 

bee vvoolb not strive to get excessive gaine 

in ani cloatbe or otber kinbe of tbinge : 

bis servant, S. 5. tbis trvetb can testifie 

a witnes tbat bebelb it witb mi eie. 

Numerous other objects of interest are to be seen in this ancient sanctuary, 
but we must leave them to be pointed out by the custodian, and take the reader, 
for a moment, to the Memorial Library, Theatre and Museum. 

As long ago as the Jubilee in the last century, Garrick dreamed of Stratford 
as a centre of study, a school of acting and elocution. A dream the idea re- 
mained until the late Mr. Charles E. Flower, a generous benefactor to Stratford- 
on-Avon, tried to secure its realisation. He was not supported as he had hoped 
by the general public, but in spite of all difficulties and by dint of contributions 
from his own purse to the extent of some thirty thousand pounds, in addition 
to the gift of the site, the theatre was at length completed, and was opened 
on April 23rd, 1879, and the library and picture gallery on April i8th, 1881. 

Unfortunately, the apathy of Shakespeare lovers was such that only by 
the desperate expedient of spending every penny of the endowment fund 
could the building be completed, and the support is still far from what it 
ought to be. In fact, if it were not for the extreme generosity of Mrs. 
Charles E. Flower, and others of the same family, the work would be very 
seriously crippled. As it is, the want of money is felt at every turn, and the 
amount of good work accomplished in spite of all difficulties is really 
wonderful. We have already mentioned the attention given to the revival of 
plays, and the committee has published a complete edition of the plays as 
produced at the Memorial Theatre, in cheap and convenient form for schools. 
To a very great extent (probably no one save Mr. A. H. Wall, the late 
librarian, is aware how great) the library has served its purpose as a mine of 
information for the Shakespeare student. Although the necessity of catering 
for tourists and sight-seers has prevented the council providing such 
accommodation as they wish for students, the library has been considerably 
used, and the correspondence with enquirers in all parts of the world is very 
heavy. 

The library contains some seven thousand volumes, including the plays 
in a great number of editions and languages, books on Shakespeare and his 
works, plays of sixteenth century authors, books on contemporary history, 

160 



costume, etc., and biographies of Shakespearean actors. The Hbrarian and 
his assistants also carefully collect and file all cuttings of Shakespearean 
interest from newspapers, magazines, etc., and these ephemerse, carefully 
collated and indexed, will eventually prove of untold value to students. 

Probably for many years to come the Library will have to rely for its 
increase mainly upon gifts, which can be made to a special Library fund. Or, 

if a Shakespeare lover wishes 
to contribute a volume or set 
of volumes, the librarian will 
gladly inform him of such as 
are still wanted ; and as there 
are blanks at almost all prices, 
a gift of almost any sum can be 
represented by a definite book 
or books. Although the library 
has hundreds of editions of 
Shakespeare's works, there are 
still many scores of American 
editions (to mention one field 
only) that are listed as wanted. 
Many relics of well-known 
Shakespearean actors, collec- 
tions of "Shakespeare's 
flowers," etc., are treasured and 
exposed to public view. The 
art gallery above has been en- 
riched by many generous gifts, 
and has a very fine collection 
of pictures. The most interest- 
ing are those hung together as 
a gallery of portraits of the 
poet, including the painting we 
have described and reproduced 
as the original of the Droeshout 
engraving. Here, too, is the 
Davenant bust. 

The Memorial Theatre, excellent in every way for its purpose, is far too 
often dark and silent, and much united work must be given by Shakespeare 
lovers m many lands, before Stratford and its Memorial are the centres of 
light and activity, which it is desired that they should be. 

The tower of the Memorial gives a magnificent view of the country round, 
and is very well worth the chmb. 




(Glimpse through South Chancel Do. 



162 



The work of the Memorial is conducted by Mr. Charles Lowndes, the 
secretary, and Mr. W. Salt Brassington, librarian, with Mr. Rainbow as 
custodian, and his daughter as assistant librarian. Every one of these people has 
a full belief in the importance of the task entrusted to them by their committee. 

The generous donation of a bronze statue of Shakespeare, by Lord Ronald 
Gower, has already been mentioned. The statue is Lord Gower's own work, 
as are the four figures 
round the base, and 
is thus a specially 
graceful as well as 
a valuable tribute to 
the poet's memory. 

That the memory 
of Shakespeare's 
daughter Judith may 
be ever green, atablet 
is affixed to the shop 
that was formerly 
her home for so 
many years, and Mr. 
Edward Fox, who 
occupies the build- 
ing, is very pleased to 
show the capacious 
cellars which were 
turned to business 
account by Quiney, 
the vintner, after 
they had served their 
purpose as the town's 
dungeons. Mr. Fox 
has recently stripped 
one of the walls, re- 
vealing the ancient 
timber in a way that stairw^ ■ n \ 

throws interesting 

and unexpected light upon the early arrangements of the house, and he 
has secured from the sale of the Harts' relics, what is believed to be an 
authentic and contemporary portrait of Judith Shakespeare. 

The Arden house, too, at Wilmcote, is open to the public for a very small 
fee, and many visitors will feel grateful to Mr. Samuel Lane, the farmer, who 
reserves the house to their use and guards it from decav. 




163 



Of the Jubilee Fountain in the Rother Market we wrote briefly in an 
earlier chapter. As a tribute to the great man's memory from an American 
admirer it is especially appreciated. The design is British, and, curiously 
enough, the free-stone came from a Yorkshire quarry within a few yards of 
the Spink Well where it is said that the last wild boar in England was slain. 

Of the less material memorials and tributes to the memory of Shakespeare 
we can say but little, yet the work of the many earnest men who are ever 
searching for the least glimpses of side-light upon the poet's life and times 
must not be ignored. There are, of course, those officially connected with 




PICTURE GALLERY, MEMORIAL 



this work — Mr. Richard Savage, Mr. Salt Brassington, Mr. A. H. Wall, and 
others, but there is also a little army of devoted workers, both in the district, 
and in other countries, even to the ends of the earth. Of important contribu- 
tions recently made, we may speciall}' mention the publication of the 
"Register of the Guild of Knowle," by the Archseological section of the 
Birmingham and Midland Institute; "Records of Rowington," by Mr. J. 
W. Ryland ; "Baddesley Clinton" (now in the press), by the Rev. Henry 
Norris ; and the valuable work of Mrs. Stopes. 

There is a common, but mistaken, idea that all that can be known of the 
life and times of Shakespeare has already been collected and published. On 

164 



the contrary, there is still an immense amount of good work to be done 
especially with regard to the life of the poet away from Stratford; and anyone 
with a sufficient interest in the subject, and a knowledge of the English 
language, may yet dig stones to Iav upon the cairn erected to our |reat 
man's memory. 




JUDITH SHAKESPEARE. 

(From a Painting oimcii by Mr. Edward Fox.) 



165 




APPENDIX A. 

Information for Visitors. 



HUNDRED thousand tourists, every year, pass through Shakespeare's 

to\\'n. How many of these ever feel the spirit of the place, how 

many reahse that in the habits and prejudices, the language and 

customs of the people, we have strong and interesting survivals of 

the very surroundings of Shakespeare's life? How many think, or 

care to think, that in this secluded corner of the country there is a 

^ survival of the sturdy yeoman class from which the poet sprang? 

^ ^—^^Jf *^ And how many know that Jack-in-a-Green may still be seen; that the 

'^V4k '\/f^^ May-pole dance has never been misssd for a year since the stern repression 

^j^vjign of the Puritan days, and that many another quaint old custom is still kept up 

'^ ^*^ amongst the Warwickshire village folk ? 

If people come thousands of miles to see the bricks and mortar of our 
British history and literature, how much more should they linger to lovingly 
study the ways of thought and speech, the very intellectual and moral atmos- 
phere which made possible the history and the writings. It is in the hope that 
we may induce some to stay long enough in Warwickshire to really catch the 
spirit of its village life that we have collected the rambling notes in this chapter. 
Perhaps some of the suggestions may seem incongruous, and especially the 
suggestion of the local weekly newspaper, as a help to an appreciation of the 
old-time spirit. Yet the Stratfurd-iipon-Avon Herald is every week recording — 
not as matters of curiosity, but as ordinary news — many local happenings that take us back 
to the olden times. And the Herald, too, has frequent contributions on Shakesperean 
subjects that are well worth reading and filing. 

The Shakespearean, a sixpenny monthly magazine, and the only British magazine devoted 
to Shakespearean matters, will be found still richer in Shakespeare lore, and prove most 
valuable to the serious student. 

Tlie Sports and Pastimes of the Warwickshire folk are partly modern, but even a good game 
of cricket is useful from the Shakespearean point of view if it detains the traveller for an extra 
half-day amid Warwickshire scenery. 

Cricket. Played every fine summer evening, by numberless clubs, etc. The Stratford-on- 
Avon Athletic and Cricket Club (Hon. Sec, Mr. T. R. EUerker, Shottery) has an exceedingly 
fine ground with good pavilion, etc. Fixed matches are played every Saturday, from the 
middle of May to the middle of September, and on certain other days. Other sports are also 
encouraged by this club. Visitors may become members. Subscription, ys. 6d. 

Boating. The Stratford-upon-Avon Boat Club. Hon. Sec, Mr. John Smith. A competitive 
and pleasure-rowing club. Has its own field and boats. Holds sports monthly during the 
summer, on Thursdays that do not clash with the Athletic Club's sports. Visitors may become 
members — fee; los. per month. 

Swimming. There is a good public bathing place. 

Football and Athletics are actively supported by the Cricket Club, so that sport of some 
kind may be seen in its ground every week of the year. 

Steeplechases. Held annually about the end of April or beginning of May. Hon. Sec, 
W. Hutchings, 26 High Street. 

Lawn Tennis. A good private club, which admits visitors on introduction by members. 
Golf. A good club that admits visitors. Excellent links within easy access of the town. 



166 



Bim'ls. The green in Guild-street, is owned by Mr. Colbourne, of the Red Horse Hotel, and 
used by an informal club that includes many of the principal tradespeople. Visitors welcome. 

Quoits. Industriously played in many of the villages, where pitches may be seen on the 
green or in a convenient field on any fine summer evening. Matches are played between the 
teams of neighboring villages. 

Tlif To7i<ii Baud. Hon. Sec, W. Trinder, junr. Plays in the Bancroft gardens and else- 
where during the summer. 

Tlw Volunteers have their annual week under canvas at Whitsuntide. 

Fricudly Societies. The leading friendly societies — the Freemasons, Foresters, Oddfellows, 
and Buffaloes — are well supported, but the whole district is also full of small friendly and 
provident societies, somewhat on the lines of the old Guilds. In the ceremonial of the Buffaloes, 
many of the old Guild customs remain. Of course, the meetings of these societies are only 
open to such visitors as are members of their fraternity. 

Foxlionnds. The Warwickshire Hunt meets all round the district during the winter. 

Otter Hounds occasionally make a drag on the Avon, and by those with sturdy limbs and 
lungs, no better sport need be asked. 

Angling. The Cliffe Angling Association preserves some good water. Particulars from 
the Hon. Sec. 

May Day is fully celebrated at Welford round the May-pole on the green, and there are May- 
poles at Offenham and King's Norton. In Stratford, the children decorate themselves and try 
to collect coppers, but Jack-in-aGreen, kept up until within the last few yeav.j, is no longer seen. 

Tin- Mop, or hiring fair, for general business and pleasure, but primarily for the hiring of 
farm servants, is held on October 12th. An ox is roasted whole, and the flesh sold in small 
portions, and there are many other characteristic scenes. The Runaway Mop, for servants 
dissatisfied at the first hiring, is held a fortnight later. 

T/ic Wakes are still held at many of the villages. Those at Shottery and Clifford Chambers 
are well attended by Stratfordians and other outsiders. Shottery Wake is on the Sunday and 
Monday between the loth and 17th of July, while that at Clifford Chambers is on the Sunday 
and Monday between the igth and 26th of June. Wilmcote Wake is early in July, and lasts 
for a week. The principal sport at Wilmcote is " bowling for a leg of mutton." 

Gunpowder Plot. November 5th is celebrated by a club which is said to have been founded 
on the first anniversary of the plot. It meets at the Falcon for supper (formerly a tripe supper), 
followed by speeches and loyal toasts. The small boys make bonfires and burn Guj' Fawkes 
in effigy, and some of the villages have great fires and noisy celebration. 

Beating the Boundaries is still occasionally practised in some neighboring parishes. It was 
recently done at Clifford Chambers. 

Morris Dancing is still kept up by the men of Marston, who have handed it down, father 
teaching son, for generations. Each dancer has his hereditary part, and the elaborate costumes, 
intricate manoeuvers, and curious music are the same as in old days. Until recently they 
visited Stratford regularly and were freely encouraged. Of late j'ears they have been rather 
frowned down upon, and their performances in the town are irregular and less public than they 
used to be. 

The Mummers visit Stratford every Christmas from Snitterfield and Bidford. They dance, 
sing, and "repeat certain lines which have been handed down for many generations" — 
probably part of the old mumming play " The Peace Egg." 

Clubs. The Liberal and Conservative Clubs have the usual social advantages. Open to 
\-isitors on introduction by a member. The Union Club, in Chapel-lane, is purely social, and 
its members have the right to introduce friends for one week. 

The Shakespeare Club meets somewhat irregularly at its headquarters, the Red Horse Hotel. 
Hon. Sec, Mr. Richard Savage. 

167 



T]ic Carriers^ carts and wagons, recalling the traffic of the old times, and most of them 
prepared to carry passengers lumberingly along the roads to their villages, visit Stratford every 
week. Many of them come twice or thrice in the week, and several daily; from about seventy 
different towns and villages. 

Finally, Stratford is fortunate in having true artists amongst it painters and photographers. 
Several painters have very fully caught the inspiration of the district, and especially is this the 
case with Mr. J. Laurence Hart, whose studio in Scholar's-lane (only a few yards from the 
Guild Chapel) is always freely open. It is a pleasant place to spend half-an-hour, even if not 
immediately intent on purchases. The photographers, too, have superior local work. Mr. 
Douglas IVIcNeille's snow subjects, his stereoscopic views and his lantern-slides are specially 
admired, and Mr. Tyler has a very fine and extensive series of local subjects. 
Places of Worship, with Times of Sunday Services. 
Holy Trinity Church . _ . . . 8 a.m. ix a.m. 3 



Guild Chapel 

St. James's Church, Guild-street 

St. Gregory's (R.C.) Church, Warwick-road 

Congregational, Rother-street 

Wesleyan, Birmingham-road 

Primitive Methodist, Great William-street 

Baptist, Peyton-street - 

Salvation Army, Rother-street 

The Brethren, Guild-street and Scholar's-lane 



8 a.m. II 



10.30 
10.45 
II 

10.30 
10.45 
3 
10.30 



p.m. 



&.30 
5.30 
5.30 
5.30 
5.30 
5.30 
5.30 




THE DINING HALL, CLOFTON HOUSE. 
168 



APPENDIX B. —Shakespeare's Will. 

I 

X? iJfjHE words that are underlined appeared in the original draft, but were 
-» f»~ scored out before the will was signed. Those in italics were 
qJ \q not included m the original draft, but were added at the time of 
I signing. 

Vicesimo quinto die Januarii Martii, anno regni domini nostri Jacobi, nunc regis Anglie, 
&c. decimo quarto, et Scotie xlix° annoque Domini 1616. 

T. Wmi. Shackspeare. — In the name of God, amen ! I William Shackspeare, of Stratford- 
upon-Avon in the countie of Warr. gent., in perfect health and memorie, God be praysed, doe 
make and ordayne this my last will and testament in manner and forme followeing, that ys to 
saye. First, I comend my soule into the handes of God my Creator, hoping and assuredlie 
beleeving, through thonelie merittes of Jesus Christe, mj' Saviour, to be made partaker of 
lyfe everlastinge, and my bodye to the earth whereof yt ys made. Item, I gyve and bequeath 
unto my Sonne in L daughter Judyth one hundred and fyftie poundes of lawfull English 
money, to be paied unto her in manner and forme followeing, that ys to saye, one hundred 
poundes in discharge of her marriage porcion within one yeare after my deceas, with 
consideracion after the rate of twoe shillinges in the pound for soe long tyme as the same shal 
be unpaid unto her after my deceas, and the fyftie poundes residewe thereof upon her 
surrendring of^ or gyving of such sufficient securitie as the overseers of this my will shall like 
of to surrender or graunte, all her estate and right that shall discend or come unto her after 
my deceas, or thai shcc nowe hath, of, in or to, one copiehold tenemente with thappurtenaunces 
lyeing and being in Stratford-upon-Avon aforesaied in the saied countie of Warr., being 
parcel! or holden of the mannour of Rowington, unto my daughter Susanna Hall and her 
heires for ever. Item, I gyve and bequeath unto my saied daughter Judith one hundred and 
fyftie poundes more, if shee or anie issue of her bodie be lyvinge att thend of three yeares 
next ensueing the daie of the date of this my will, during which tyme my executours to paie 
her consideracion from my deceas according to the rate aforesaied ; and if she dye within the 
saied terme without issue of her bodye, then my will ys, and I doe gyve and bequeath one 
hundred poundes thereof to my neece Elizabeth Hall, and the fiftie poundes to be sett fourth 
by my executours during the lief of my sister Johane Harte, and the use and proffitt thereof 
cominge shal be payed to my saied sister Jone, and after her deceas the saied 1.'' shall remaine 
amongst the children of my saied sister equallie to be devided amongst them ; but if my saied 
daughter Judith be lyving att thend of the saied three yeares, or anie yssue of her bodye, then 
my will ys and soe I devise and bequeath the saied hundred and fyftie poundes to be sett out by 
my executours and overseers for the best benefitt of her and her issue, and the stock not to be 
paied unto her soe long as she shalbe marryed and covert baron by my executours and 
overseers ; but my will ys that she shall have the consideracion yearelie paied unto her during 
her lief, and, after her deceas, the saied stock and consideracion to bee paied to her children, 
if she have anie, and if not, to her executours or assignes, she lyving the saied terme after my 
deceas, Provided that if such husbond as she shall att thend of the saied three yeares be 
marryed unto, or att anie after, doe suflicientle assure unto her and thissue of her bodie 
landes awnswereable to the porcion by this my will gyven unto her, and to be adjudged soe 
by my executours and overseers, then my will ys that the saied cl.''- shalbe paied to such 
husbond as shall make such assurance, to his owne use. Item, I gyve and bequeath unto my 
saied sister Jone xx.''- and all my wearing apparrell, to be paied and delivered within one yeare 
after my deceas ; and I doe will and devise unto her the house with thappurtenaunces in 
Stratford, wherein she dwelleth, for her naturall lief, under the yearelie rent of xij.''- Item, I 
gyve and bequeath unto her three sonns, William Harte, Hart, and Michaell Harte, 

170 



fyve pouiides a peece, to be payed within one yeare after my deceas to be sett out for her 
wit hin one y eare after my tieceas by my executours, with thadvise and direccions of^my 
over seers, for her best proffitt until! her marriage, and then the same with the increase 
thereof to be paied unto her. Item, I gyve and bequeath unto her tlic saicd Elisabftli Hall 
all my plate except my hrod silver ami gilt bole, that I now have att the date of this my will. 
Item, I gyve and bequeath unto the poore of Stratford aforesaied tenn poundes ; to Mr. 
Thomas ComlDe my sword ; to Thomas Russell esquier fyve poundes, and to Frauncis Collins 
of the borough of Warr. in the countie of Warr., gent., thirteene poundes, sixe shillinges, 
and eight pence, to be paied within one yeare after my deceas. Item, I gyve and bequeath to 
Mr. Richard Tyler thelder Hamlctt Sadler xxvj.^- viij.''- to buy him a ringe ; to William. 
Raynoliles, gent., x.vvj.-'- viij.''- to bay him a ring; to my god-son Wilham Walker xx."- in 
gold; to Anthonye Nashe gent, xxvj.^- viij.''-, and to Mr. John Nashe xxvj.«- z)(j;'.''- in gold ; 
and to my fellowes, jfolin Hcniyiiges, Richard Bnrbage, and Henry Cnndell, xxvjj- viij.''- a 
pcccc to buy them riiiges. Item, I gyve, will, bequeath and devise, unto my daughter Susanna 
Hall,/o/- better enabling of Iter to performc this my ivill, and towardes the performans thereof, 
all that capitall messuage or tenemente, with thappurtenaunces, in Stratford aforesaied, called 
the Newe Place, wherein I nowe dwell, and twoe messuages or tenementes with thappur- 
tenaunces, scituat lyeing and being in Henley streete within the borough of Stratford 
aforesaied ; and all my barnes. stables, orchardes, gardens, landes, tenementes and heredita- 
mentes whatsoever, scituat, lieing and being, or to be had, receyved, perceyved, or taken, within 
the townes, hamlettes, villages, fieldes and groundes of Stratford-upon-Avon, Oldstratford, 
Bushopton, and Welcombe, or in anie of them in the saied countie of Warr. And alsoe all 
that messuage or tenemente with thappurtenaunces wherein one John Robinson dwelleth, 
scituat lyeing and being in the Blackfriers in London nere thfe Wardrobe ; and all other my 
landes, tenementes, and hereditamentes whatsoever. To have and to hold all and singuler 
the saied premisses with their appurtenaunces unto the saied Susanna Hall for and during the 
terme of her naturall lief, and after her deceas, to the first Sonne of her bodie lawfullie 
yssueing, and to the heires males of the bodie of the saied first Sonne lawfullie yssueinge, 
and for defalt of such issue, to the second sonne of her bodie lawfullie issueinge, and of to the 
heires males of the bodie of the saied second sonne lawfullie yssueinge, and for defalt of such 
heires, to the third sonne of the bodie of the saied Susanna lawfullie yssueing, and of the 
heires males of the bodie of the saied third sonne lawfullie yssueing, and for defalt of such 
issue, the same soe to be and remaine to the fourth sonne, fyfth, sixte, and seaventh sonnes 
of her bodie lawfullie issueing one after another, and to the heires males of the bodies of the 
saied fourth, fifth, sixte, and seaventh sonnes lawfullie yssueing, in such manner as yt ys before 
lymitted to be and remaine to the first, second and third sonns of her bodie, and to their 
heires males, and for defalt of such issue, the saied preniisses to be and remaine to my sayed 
neece Hall, and the heires males of her bodie lawfullie yssueing, and for defalt of such issue, 
to my daughter Judith, and the heires males of her bodie lawfullie issueinge, and for defalt of 
such issue, to the right heires of me the saied William Shackspeare for ever. Item, 1 gyve 
unto my wiefe viv second best bed loith the fnruitnre. Item, I gyve and bequeath to my saied 
daughter Judith my broad silver gilt bole. All the rest of my goodes, chattels, leases, plate, 
jewels, and household stuffe whatsoever, after my dettes and legasies paied, and my funerall 
expences discharged, I gyve, devise, and bequeath to my sonne-in-lawe, John Hall, gent., and 
my daughter Susanna, his wief, whom I ordaine and make executours of this my last will and 
testament. And I doe intreat and appoint the saied Thomas Russell esquier, and Frauncis 
Collins, gent., to be overseers hereof, and doe revoke all former \vills, and publishe this to be 
my last will and testament. In witn^es whereof I have hereunto put my seale liand the daie 
and yeare first above written. -^By me William Shakspeare. 

Witnes to the publishing hereof, — Fra : CoUyns ; Julius Shawe ; John Robinson ; Hamnet 
Sadler; Robert VVhattcott. 



171 



APPENDIX C. 

New Light on Shakespeare's Lineage. 

^HiLE our own book is in the printers' hands, a most interesting and 
probably important volume has been published, from the pen of 
John Pym Yeatman, Barrister-at-law, &C.- Though the time 
before our last pages close for the press is too short to allow us to 
thoroughly consider Mr. Yeatman's arguments, we feel that to pass 
his work without notice would be a decided mistake. 

The book has been hastily and somewhat slovenly compiled ; much of 
the argument is far from being clear and connected ; a strong partisan feehng 
that prevents clear judicial reasoning pervades the whole book, and the proof- 
reading has been very careless. These serious detail blemishes seem to have 
led most of the critics to overlook and ignore the enormously important con- 
tribution which Mr. Yeatman has made to the history of Shakespeare — 
provided his statements stand verification, and we cannot doubt they will 
do so. 

We briefly sum up the main contentions of the book, not necessarily in 
the order of their importance in the eyes of Mr. Yeatman. 

I- — That John Shakespeare, William Shakespeare, Dr. John Hall, and 
most of their relatives were strongly Roman Catholic. 

2. — That the fact of Catholics being legally debarred from bringing 
any case in the courts (they were practically outlaws) explains many 
otherwise obscure points. That the cases in which the Shakespeares 
did appear were either — (a) in the local courts, where the officials, etc., 
were secretly Catholic, or (b) a case in which some of the plaintiffs were 
Protestants. This is also held to explain why Shakespeare's works were 
never published by himself. As he had no legal rights, any work he 
published could have been pirated with impunity; whereas, if it were confined 
to stage performances, the pirates would need to make a shorthand report, 
a difficult . matter with their crude reporting methods, especially as the 
proprietors of the theatre were interested in preventing it. 

3- — That John Shakespeare was not a tradesman of any kind, but a 
gentleman of family and position, reduced in circumstances by confiscations 
on the ground of his faith, but still amply independent. That the fining 
for havmg a muck-hill, etc., occurred to John Shakespeare the shoemaker, 
or some other John Shakespeare, and that the first Joan (born August 15th, 
1558) "was not the poet's sister, but probably the shoemaker's daughter, etc. 

* "The Gentle Shakspere: A vindication. London: The Koxburghe Press, 3 Victoria Street, Westminster. 

172 



4. — That the poet did ^o deer-steahny, and was rather wild; and that 
Anne Hathaway was an ill-bred, uneducated woman, whom he married as 
the only atonement he could make for the results of an illicit connection, 
and who was rather a drag and encumbrance on him through life. It is 
suggested that his sowing of wild oats was caused by despair and despera- 
tion on being refused by a maid (possibly the daughter of Sir Thomas Lucy) 
with whom he was deeply in love. 

5. — That Shakespeare's will is a proof of his loss of self-control and 
partially of memory; "that it is a terrible will; it is the act of a man 
in a passion, who knew not what he did. It has cruelty and vindictiveness 
stamped upon it. Generosity and forgiveness are wholly wanting." 
Mr. Yeatman suggests that this will was made especially to disgrace, humiliate, 
and financially ruin the poet's daughter Judith, as a punishment for her 
misconduct with Thomas Quiney; points out that Judith only repeated 
her mother's act, and suggests that she was aided and abetted by her mother. 

Points 3, 4 and 5 seem to be quite unsupported by any new evidence ; and 
the two latter points appeal to us as unnecessary, unjustifiable, and ungenerous 
attacks upon the memory of a man whom Mr. Yeatman professes to admire 
and respect. It is a pity Mr. Yeatman did not confine himself to the new and 
important matter which he appears to have unearthed and collected; and from 
which the public attention is likely to be diverted by the matter above 
summarised. 

The discovery which Mr. Yeatman claims to have made consists of a link 
connecting the poet's family with the Griffiths, Griffins, or Gryffyns, descended 
from the old Welsh kings. This connection makes the poet a relative of 
Francis Bacon, a cousin of Sir Thomas Luc)', a relative of Lord Burleigh, 
and a cousin of Elizabeth Vernon, who became the wife of the Earl of 
Southampton. Incidentally, Mr. Yeatman shews that Richard Shakespeare, 
the poet's grandfather, was Bailiff of the Priory of Wro.xall ; and it is through 
the discovery of this good man's marriage with Alys Gryffyn that all the other 
matter has come to light. It also connects the poet with the Prioresses of 
Wro.xall, who, like the Bailiff, were thrown on the mercy of the world, on the 
confiscation of the property of the Priory. 

The connection with the Griffin family, through the poet's grandmother, 
gives an ancestry including numberless men of high standing, and the 
importance of such a discovery can hardly be over-estmiated. A great collec- 
tion of wills and other documents throwing light on the histories of these 
people is published by Mr. Yeatman. 

Of course, before accepting his conclusions as final, it will be necessary to 
examine, with the greatest possible care, the evidence brought forward, a task 
that is made difficult h\ the mass of matter irrelevant to the main point by 
which it is accompanied. 

173 



INDEX. 



Addenbrooke, John, 132. 

Alcester, 130. 

Alms-houses, The, 16. 

Alveston, 21. 

American Fountain, 10, 11, 164. 

American Window, 137, 15S, 159. 

Arbuthnot, Rev. George, 156. 

Arden, Agnes, 94. 

Arden, Edward, 114. 

Arden Family, The, 49, 50, 55. 

Arden, Mary, 50, 60, 62, 132. 

Arden, Robert, 50, 5o, 62, loi. 

Arden, The Forest of, 29, 55. 

Arden's House, Mary, 49, 59, 133, 163. 

Armoury, The, 82. 

Arms ot Clopton, 137. 

Arms of Shakespeare, 49, 50, 55, I2r. 

Arms of &tratford-on-Avon, 9, 65. 

Arms of Warwick, 93. 

Asbies, 62, gi, 94, 118. 

Aston Cantlow, 6r, 62, 63, 94. 

" As you like it,' 29, 55. 

Aubrey, John, 48, 84, 96. 

Avonbank, 20. 

Baconian heresy. The, iig, 133. 

Baddesley Clinton, 164. 

Baker, Mrs., 100, 154. 

Bardon Hill, 106. 

Barnard, Lady (born Hall), 140. 

Barnard, Sir John, 104, 140. 

Barton-on-the Heath, 94, 134. 

Bashall, Thomas, 157. 

Bathing Place, The, 20, 79. 

Becker, Ludwig, 150. 

Benson, J. W., 152. 

Betterton, Thos., 48, r45. 

Billesley Church, 89, 102, 104. 

Billesley Hall, 28, 34, 104, 117, riS. 

Birth Entry, 63. 

Birth-house Museum, 82, 84, 92, 140, 153. 

Birth-house, The, 12, 24, 53, 65, 66, 67, 68, 

69. 75. Qii 92, III, 118, 141. 
Birth Place Trust, r2, 65, r53. 
Birth Week Celebrations, 152. 
Blackfriars Theatre, 134. 
Boundary Elm, The, 25. 
Brassington, W. Salt, 163, 164. 
Bridge Street, 12, 22, 24. 
Brooke, Lord, 28. 
Brothers' Door, The, 41, 84. 
Burbage, Francis, 63. 
Burbage, James, ir5. 
Burbage, Richard, 116, 145. 
Burbage's Company, 116, 117, 123, 127, 130, 

132, 133- 
Burial Entry, 136. 
Burleigh, Lord, ri2, 118. 
Cade's Rebellion, 114. 



Cage, The Town, 12, 29, 136. 

Catesby, Robert, r3o. 

Catholic versus Protestant, 32, 76, 78, 92 

102, III, 112, 113, 130. 
Chandos Portrait, The, 136. 
Cliapel Street, 14, 17. 

Charlecote, 107, log, no, in, 113, 115, 120 
Charter, The Town, 34. 
Church (see Trinity Church). 
Church Street, 16. 
Clayton, John, 123. 
Clifford Chambers, 70, 71. 
Clopton Bridge, The, 20, 21. 
Clopton Chapel, The, 43, 157. 
Clopton House, 34, 37, 44, nS, 130, 134. 
Clopton, Sir Hugh, 21, 122, 155. 
Collyns, Francis, 136. 
Combe, John, 127, 133, 135, 159. 
Combe, William, 127, 133, 136. 
*' Comedy of Errors,"' 122. 
Compton, Sir Wm., no. 
Compton Wynyates, no. 
Condell, Henry, 142. 
Corn Exchange, 14. 
Court, Thos., 141. 
Curfew, The, 80. 
Danger of travel, 28, 75. 
Davenant Bust, Fronfispifci', 147, 148. 
Davenant, Sir William, 48, 145, 147. 
Deer stealing, 109. 
Denmark, Shakespeare in, 117. 
Desk, Shakespeare's, 84. 
Dibdin, Charles, 24. 
Digby, Sir Everard, 130. 
Digges, Leonard, 142. 
Droeshout Portrait, 141, 142, 146. 
Dugdale, 50. 
Duke's Theatre, 147. 
Edge Hill, 25, 28. 
Edward V., 44. 
Edward VI., 32, 44. 
Elizabeth, Queen, 32, 70, 78, 112, 127. 
Elsinore, ir7. 
Essex, Countess of, 116. 
Essex, Earl of, 127, 130. 
Execution of Edward Arden, 116. 
Fairs, 37, 61. 

Falcon Tavern, The, 16, 155. 
Falstaff, 153. 
Famine in Stratford, 122. 
Field, Henry, 119. 
Field, Richard, iig. 
Fire at Stratford, 136. 
First Folio, 142. 

Flower, Mrs. Charles E., 146, iCo. 
Flower, The late C. E., 20, 104, 160. 
Fonts, 65, 93. 
Frescoes, 31, 33, 45, So. 



174 



FuUbroke Park, no. 

FuUom, 104. 

Game Preserving, 1 10. 

Garrick, David, 14. 

Gastrell, Rev. Francis, 156. 

Getley, Walter, 56. 

Globe Theatre, 123, 135. 

Glovers and Fell-mongers, 20, 58, 96. 

" Golden Lion," The, 24. 

Gower Statue, The, 139, 150, 151, 153, 163. 

Grafton, 130. 

Grammar School, The, 16, 40, 71, 80, 81, 84, 

87, 119, 155. 
'Greein' Room, 82. 
Greene, Thos., 116, 132. 
Greet, Ben, 152. 
Greville, Sir Edward, 127. 
Guild Chapel, The, 16, 39, 40, 41, 74, 80, 81, 

130. 155- 
Guildhall, The, 76, 77, 80, 81, 85, 155. 
Guild of St. Mary, 57. 
Guild Street, 22. 
Guild, The, 37. 

Gunpowder Plot, The, 34, 37, 128. 
Hall, Dr. John, 19, 132, 133, 138, 142. 
Hall, Elizabeth, 14, 132, 138, 140. 
Hall's Croft, r6. 
Halliwell-Phillips, J. O., 49. 
Hamlet, 116, ir7, 151. 
Hancock, The Misses, 153. 
Hand-fasting, loi. 
Hart Family, 12, 137, 140, 157, 163. 
Hart, Joan, 123, 138. 
Hart, John, 141. 
Hart, Michael, 138. 
Hart, Thomas, 140. 
Hart, William, 123, 138. 
Harvard House, The, 13, 14. 
Harvard. John, 14. 
Hathaway, Anne, 24, 97, 154. 
Hathaway, Richard, 74, 98. 
Hathaway, Thos., 14. 
Hathaway's Cottage, Anne, 24, 94, 95, 96, 

97. 98. 99- 
Hatton, Sir Hugh de, 29. 
Heminge, John, 116, 142. 
Henley Street, 12, 60, in. 
" Henry IV.," 127. 
" Henry VI.," 119. 
Henry VII., 55. 
Henry VIII., 32, 44. 
High Street, 12, 14. 
Hill, Agnes, 50. 
Hill, Richard, 159. 
Hornby, Mary, 141. 
Hornby, Thomas, 140. 
Hunt, Thomas, 86, 104. 
Hunt, William Oakes, 146. 
Hunt, Wm., 146. 
Irving, Washington, 22, 26. 
James I., 127. 
Jenkins, Thos., 86. 
Johnson, Gerard, 145, 151. 



Jolyffe, Thomas, 80. 

Jonson, Ben, 122, 142, 147. 

Jubilee (Garrick's), The, i^, 151. 

Justice Shallow, 109. 

Knight, Charles, 47, 64. 

Knowle, and its Guild, 56, 164. 

Lambert, Edmund, 91, 94, 118. 

Lane, John, 135. 

Lane, Nicholas, 118. 

Leicester, The Earl of, 114, 116, 117. 

Lowndes, Charles, 163. 

Loxley, 30. 

" Lucrece," 121. 

Lucy, Sir Thomas, 109, 113, 114, 118, 123. 

Lucj', Tomb of Sir Thomas, 112. 

Luddington, 19, 86, 93, loi, 104, 105. 

Macbeth, Lady, 150. 

Malone, 48, 57, 116, 145, 156. 

Market Cross, 14. 

Market Place, 12, 130. 

Markets, 37. 

Marriage Bond, 99. 

Mary, Queen, 32. 

Mary, Queen of Scots, 32, 78. 

Mask, The Death, 142, 148, 150. 

Massacres, 34, 78. 

May Day, 105. 

Memorial Fountain, 10, 11. 

Memorial Library, ig, 20, 26. 

Memorial Theatre, 162. 

Mendicancy, 30. 

Mercia, Kings of, 34. 

" Merry Wives of Windsor," 86, 109. 

Middle Row, 22, 23. 

"Midsummer Night's Dream," 19, 118. 

Mill, The, 19. 

Minstrels, 41. 

Mulberry Tree, Shakespeare's, 121, 156. 

Muniment Room, 42, 82. 

Nash, Anthony, 138. 

Nash, Thomas, 14, 129, 13S, 140. 

New Place, 14, 28, 56, 104, 121. 122, 12 

129, 132. 
New Place Museum, 138, 155, 157. 
Norbrook, 130. 
"Old Red Lion," The, 24. 
" Old Thatch " Tavern, 10. 
Old Town, 16. 
Parliamentary War, 25. 
Pedagogue's House, The, 84, 85. 
Pedigree, Shakespeare's, 52. 
Phillips, Augustine, 128. 
Plague in London, 128. 
Plague in Stratford, 70, 74. 
Players in Stratford, 75, 116, 127. 
Plots, 127, 128. 
Pollard Willows, g. 
Priests' Hiding-places, 28, 37. 
Provisions, 41, 82. 
Puritans, The, 78, 127. 
Queen Henrietta Maria, 28, 138. 
Quiney, Adrian, 88. 123. 
Quiney, Judith, 138. 



175 



Quiney, Richard, 86, 122, 130, 13S. 

Quiney, Shakespeare, 138. 

Quiney, Thomas, 12, 128, 136, 138, 163. 

Quiney's Letter, 126, 154. 

Railway FaciUties, 9. 

" Red Horse" Hotel, The, 22, 24. 

Relics, 8. 

Revolts, 34, 127. 

Richardson, John, gg. 

Robin Hood, 30. 

Robinson, John, 138. 

Roche, Walter, 86. 

Rogers, Katharine, 14. 

Roman Catholic Marriage, loi. 

Romeo and Juliet, 122. 

Rookwood, Ambrose, 130. 

Rother Market, 10. 

Rowe, Nicholas, 48, g6, 122, 136. 

Rowington, 29, 35, 51, 55, 56, 118, 127, 164. 

Sadler, Hamnet and Judith, 118, 138. 

Sandells, Fulke, gg. 

Savage, Richard, 153, 164. 

Scarlett, John, 30. 

Schooldays, The Poet's, 85. 

" Seven Ages of Man," The, 68, 158. 

Shakespeare, Anna, 76. 

Shakespeare, Anne (born Hathaway), 138. 

Shakespeare Club, 153. 

Shakespeare, Edmund, g4, 132. 

Shakespeare, Gilbert, 51, 74. 

Shakespeare Hall, 35, 51, 55, 118. 

Shakespeare, Hamnet, 116, 118, 122. 

Shakespeare, Henry, 57, 114, 118, 122. 

" Shakespeare " Hotel, 14. 

Shakespeare, Joan, 63, 64, 76, 122, 137. 

Shakespeare, John, 20, 32, 46, 55, 57, 58, 60, 

70, 74, 88, g3. III, 113, 118, 121, 122. 
Shakespeare, Judith, 12, 25, 48, 116, 118, 

136, 138, 163, 165. 
Shakespeare, IVIargaret, 64. 
Shakespeare, Mary (born Arden), 132. 
Shakespeare, Richard, 51, 57, 88, 135. 
Shakespeare, Susanna, 106, 132, 135, 138. 
Shakespeare, Thomas, 55, 114. 
Shakespeare's Tomb, 145, 158, 162. 
Shaw, Julius, 14, 138. 
Sheep-farming, 30. 
Sheep Street, 14, 15. 
Shottery, 97, 100, 106. 
Shottery Manor House, 102, 103. 
Signatures of Shakespeare, 3, 47. 
Sly, Kit, 133- 



Sly, Stephen, 134. 

Snitterfield, 56, 57, 70, g4, 122, 130. 

Sonnets published. 132. 

Southampton, Lord, 116, iig, 127, 130. 

St. Bartholomew, Massacre of, 78. 

Stefansson, 117. 

Stratford portrait. The, 146. 

Sturley, Abraham, 123. 

Surnames, 42. 

" Swan's Nest" Hotel, The, 21. 

"Taming of the Shrew," 133, 134. 

Taylor, John, 145. 

Temple Grafton, 100, 104. 

Theatre, The Memorial, 162. 

Tithes purchased, 128. 

" Titus Andronicus," 121. 

Town Hall, The, 14, 152. 

Town Meadows, The, 20. 

Trade depression, 118. 

Tram Bridge, The, 20. 

Tresham, Francis, 130. 

Trinity Church, ig, 40, 43, 47, 64, 65, 125, 

133. 134. 135. 137. 142. 145, 156, 158- 
Trinity College School, 16. 
Tumbledown stile. The, log. 
Turchil de Eardene, 50. 
" Unicorn " Hotel, The, 22. 
"Venus and Adonis," iig. 
Wall, A. H., 104, 151, 160, 164. 
Walker, William, 132. 
Walter, Major James, 49, g6, 102. 
Ward, John, 145. 
Ward, Rev. John, 48. 
Wars in the North, 30, 34. 
Warwick, Earls of, 47. 
Warwick Road, 22. 
Webbe, Robert, g4, 96. 
Weir Brake, The, 19, 118. 
Welcombe Hills, The, 25, 70. 
Welford, 27, 46. 
Well at New Place, 132. 
West, Edward, 70. 
Whateley, Anne, 100. 
Whattcott, Robert, 138. 
Wheler, R. B. ig, 51, 152, 154. 
Whittington, Thomas, 99. 
Will, Shakespeare's, 136. 
Wilmcote, 60, 62, 70, 133, 134, 163. 
Winter, Thomas, 130. 
Winter, William, 24. 
Worcester, Bishops of, 34, gg. 
Wright, John, 130. 



ERRATA. 



Page 5g. — For Brake-house read Bake-house. 

Page 76, line i. — For 1668-g read 1568-9. 

Page 78. — Title of Illustration: "Willows, near Luddington.' 

Page 84, line 10. — For Audrey read Aubrey. 



Printed at the Cranford Press: Allen &■ Carruthers, Chismck, W. 







PLAN OF 

5TRATrORD ON AVON 

Scale of ^ J^ile 



J^g/4^.Sc 



PLAN OF 

STRATFORD ON AVON 

Scale of M JY/'/fi 




L6Je'26 



